


Maelstrom

by katiewinchester



Category: Football RPF
Genre: All Boys School, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Everyone Is Gay, HS AU, Is there an overarching plot?, M/M, probably not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-01-21 20:23:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1562861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katiewinchester/pseuds/katiewinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High School AU - Xabi is the captain of the football team, Steven plays the clarinet in the school's band, Sergio gets around, and the halls of this all-boy high school have never been more chaotic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Clarinets & Physics Tests

**Author's Note:**

> For my best friend, who I pretty much owe my entire writing career to.

_mael·strom_ \- (noun) _-_ a situation or state of confused movement or violent turmoil.

~

Sitting with his elbow resting on the table and his cheek resting on his hand, Steven Gerrard falls asleep in the middle of a Physics lecture. He’s never been attentive in school, and he certainly isn’t going to start during his senior year. With all the practicing he’s been doing for the school’s marching band (he’s got a solo coming up in their winter show), he hasn’t been sleeping enough. He isn’t going to need physics in university or ever again anyway so why should he pay attention? And besides, his father is on the board of education so there’s no way his teacher would ever fail him.

She would, however, wake him up.

At first he isn’t completely sure what’s happening. He was just in the middle of a World Cup game. Playing as captain, he takes a shot on goal. The game could end right then and there. He takes the shot—and suddenly, he’s looking up at the brown eyes of a middle aged woman who’s got a frown tattooed onto her face.

“Mr. Gerrard, I know you don’t give two craps about this class, but could you at least have the decency to stay awake?”

He tiredly nods his head, but as soon as she turns her back, his eyes fall shut once more. This time when she notices him she merely rolls her eyes and lets him be. _At least he isn’t throwing paper balls at the other students like that Luis Suarez_ , she thinks to herself.

~

Xabi Alonso is probably the most overachieving football player the school has ever known. He’s the varsity captain, a straight A student, and the most liked boy in the senior class. There is one thing, however, that he isn’t good at: playing the clarinet. He’s absolute shit at it, and it bothers him beyond belief. Everyone in his class tells him that not being able to play an instrument isn’t a big deal, but he takes it personally. He’s Xabi flipping Alonso, son of the most well known fashion model in the country and one of the best football players in the world, and it is not in his nature to fail at something.

That afternoon during band practice, he finds himself glaring at the incredibly talented Steven Gerrard. They’ve been in the same class for the past few years (Xabi moved to the school when his father transferred from Spain to England for business), but despite this, they’ve hardly ever spoken. Sometimes the day after a match, Xabi will comment on Steven’s choice of jersey, but it’s never anything more than that (much to Xabi’s disappointment).

Trying desperately to put his fingers on the right openings and blow air through the reed at the right moment, Xabi lets out a frustrated sigh when the instrument makes a noise that resembles a dying animal. Some kids in the back of the classroom snicker and Xabi shoots them a dirty look.

His music teacher sighs and once again walks him through the steps. He tries again, but to no avail. _This is hopeless,_ Xabi thinks.

“Steven?” the teacher calls across the room. The boy whose name he spoke looks up from his sheet music and cocks his head. “Do you mind assisting Mr. Alonso?” It isn’t a question.

Letting out a brief sigh, Steven stands up and gathers his belongings. He sits down next to Xabi, who appears to be stewing in his own frustration.

“What do you need help with?” Steven asks. He isn’t too interested in helping his classmate. Like the others in the class, he doesn’t understand Xabi’s obsession with being able to play an instrument. The boy is already perfect in every other way, why does this one thing matter?

Xabi explains to him how he can’t quite grasp how to make the bloody thing work, and Steven chuckles. He’s never seen Xabi so flustered. It contrasts nicely with the image that he’s got in his head about him: Xabi is calm, cool, and collected (and gorgeous).

For the rest of the period Steven tries to help Xabi figure out how to play his clarinet, but it’s no use. He just isn’t meant to play music, and Steven tells him as much, but Xabi refuses to listen.

“Maybe you could try playing the triangle?” he suggests.

~

“Stevie, mate!” Fernando Torres greets when he sits down at their lunch table. Lunch is one of the only times that Steven gets to see his friend during the school day.

“Hey, Fer.”

His friend is uncharacteristically chipper that afternoon, which makes Steven suspicious but he decides not to spoil his friend’s mood by asking him why he’s acting so different. Instead he lets Fernando smile and glow.

“Can I tell you guys something?” Fernando says after a moment of silence.

The rest of the boys at their lunch table look up from their food and everyone nods, though somewhat hesitantly. It isn’t like they don’t like seeing Fernando so happy; it’s just that it’s not what they’re used to. He’s normally like a real life Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh and sometimes Rabbit, depending on the day. They certainly aren’t prepared for him to be acting like a Pooh Bear.

“Spit it out,” Pepe Reina says after taking a large bite out of his sandwich. The words are hard to understand through the bread in his mouth, but the rest of the boys manage to figure out his reply.

“I met someone,” Fernando reveals.

Everyone rolls their eyes and groans. Steven’s head falls back so that he’s looking up at the ceiling and he sighs dramatically. There’s a chorus of are-you-kidding-me’s and you’ve-got-to-be-joking’s. It definitely isn’t the reaction that Fernando had been expecting. He frowns and gives them all a sad look with his puppy eyes.

“Mate,” John Terry starts. “I’m all for you being happy and in a relationship, but--”

“But, you ‘meet’ someone every bloody week,” Frank Lampard finishes.

Fernando looks hurt. “But this time--”

“If you say ‘this time is different’ I swear to God Fer I’m going to kill you,” Steven mumbles.

Pouting like a small child, Fernando slides down in his chair. Slowly he reverts back to being an Eeyore. “Don’t you guys want to know who it is?” he asks sullenly.

“Fine,” they all concede.

Immediately, Fernando sits up in his seat and large smile returns to his face. Steven takes in his genuine happiness and silently decides that it’s his duty as a friend to support Fernando in whatever relationship he wishes to pursue. He just prays that this time Fernando has fallen for someone decent and less douche-y.

“His name is Sergio, and he’s on the football team.”

Pepe spits out his Dr. Pepper, which sprays across the table into John’s sandwich. “Ramos?!” he sputters.

Unaffected, Fernando nods, his smile still taking up his entire face. “Yep! We started talking like a week and a half ago, and he asked me this morning if I want to go with him to the diner after his match today.”

The entire table shares a look and they all internally shake their heads at Fernando’s tendency to fall for people who aren’t likely to be monogamous.

“Did he ask _you_ to go with him to the diner or did he invite you to join a _group_?” Frank asks.

Fernando squints like he’s trying to remember and then says, “I’m pretty sure he asked if I wanted to just go with him.”

Surprised, no one at the table knows what to say. They’d been expecting Fernando to say that he’d been offered to join a group, but from what their friend had said, it sounded almost like a… date?

“Is he even gay?” Pepe asks in disbelief.

A shrug is the only reply. “I don’t know, but God I hope so,” Fernando says honestly.

“So does this mean that we’ll have to go to the match tonight?” Steven asks his voice full of hesitation. It’s not like he doesn’t enjoy going to matches though. Quite the opposite, he loves football more than anything, but the school’s team isn’t exactly stocked with his favorite people in the world.

“Don’t you want to see your new best friend Captain Alonso, Stevie dear?” Pepe asks mockingly.

The rest of the table’s ears prick up and they all turn to Steven with raised eyebrows and questioning looks.

“He’s not my new best friend,” Steven replies trying to defend himself.

Pepe rolls his eyes. “I dunno, mate. You two were pretty cozy during band class this morning.”

Steven gives him a look. “What?”

“Why would you think that we’re friends? You don’t even have band class with me.”

““Well, I was bored so I snuck into your class. You didn’t notice because you were too preoccupied with _Xabier_ ,” Pepe explains. Then he slides over closer to John and pretends to hold a clarinet in his hand and attempts to mimic Steven’s voice. “So you put your mouth on this end,” Pepe says gesturing to John who he pretends is Xabi. “And then you blow here.”

From across the table, Steven throws some of his crisps at Pepe’s face. “That is not what happened,” he insists, but his friends are too preoccupied with Pepe’s fake replay of his and Xabi’s conversation to listen to him.

“And then,” Pepe says dramatically. “After Stevie showed Mr. Perfect how to perform orally, the lad invited him to go to his match tonight.”

“What?!” Frank shouts, startling John and spilling his carton of chocolate milk across the table. “He asked you to go watch him play?!”

Everyone else at the table was in the same state of shock. No one seems to care about the milk slowly spreading across their table and soaking into their half-eaten lunches. Steven buries his face in his hands, his cheeks turning a startling shade of red.

“I wasn’t going to go,” he mumbles.

“Why not?!” John gasps.

“Why would I?” Steven counters.

“ _Why--What?!_ ” Frank’s voice booms. “Because Xabi Alonso is probably the most gorgeous boy—besides John, of course—in the school and you know it.”

Steven does know it. Xabi is hot there was no denying that, but he just doesn’t know… Xabi is popular. He could be setting him up for one of those grand scale pranks that he always sees on the telly; however, after much debate and after Pepe threatens to cut off his balls if he doesn’t go, Steven agrees to join them at the match.

“But I’m not going to acknowledge him,” Steven says afterwards.

“Sure you’re not,” Pepe replies rolling his eyes and laughing as Steven squirms in his seat.

~

Somewhat against his will, Steven accompanies his friends to the match. They sit in the bleachers with other students from the school, their shoulders pressed together. He is silently grateful for the cool weather because if he had to be part of a Pepe and Fernando sandwich during the summer he’d probably die of a heatstroke.

The match is against one of the neighboring high schools. It isn’t the most exciting match due to the impressive skill of their school’s team, but Steven actually enjoys watching nonetheless.

Xabi looks utterly gorgeous in his white kit, but Steven refuses to admit it out loud when Pepe whispers something suggestive in his ear.

“Can you not?” Steven hisses at his friend. _Great,_ he thinks, _now I’ve got that mental image in my head._

They end up winning the match three-nil with a hat-trick scored by their star player, Cristiano Ronaldo. Xabi assisted in the first goal, and when he did so Steven couldn’t help but feel his heart swell. He tries not to think about how beautiful Xabi looked when he smiled, but it is impossible. He can’t get the boy out of his mind, and he isn’t quite sure if it bothers him.

Sergio approaches their friend group a few minutes after the game ends. Glancing over at Fernando, Steven notices the slight blush that is creeping up his neck and the way he bites his lip. For a moment he forgets about Xabi and thinks about his friend. He turns back to Sergio and decides immediately how he’ll kill him if he hurts Fernando.

“Do you still want to go to the diner?” the defender asks.

Fernando nods earnestly, but stops when Frank clears his throat. “Oh, right,” he says as if Frank’s throat clearing reminded him of something. “Is it just us or are we meeting people there?”

“Um, I was thinking it would be just us…” Sergio says, but after taking in Fernando’s expression he blurts, “Unless you don’t want it to be just us,” out nervously.

“No,” Fernando insists. “Just us is fine.”

A relieved smile lights up Sergio’s face. “Great.”

~

“What did you think of the game?” Xabi asks.

Steven looks away at his sheet music. He acts for a moment like he didn’t hear the question.

“Did you go?” is the follow-up question, and this time Steven answers.

“Yeah I did.”

Ignoring Steven’s request for him to practice his clarinet playing, Xabi smiles, and again asks what Steven thought of it. He isn’t expecting his new friend (at least, he hopes that they’re friends) to say much, but he at least hopes that he enjoyed himself.

“It was good.”

Steven’s short reply isn’t what Xabi had hoped for, but he’ll take it. He’d take anything that Steven said to him as long as he spoke to him.

It makes Xabi nervous how badly he likes talking to the boy. It pains him to think that he’s been in classes with Steven for years and he’s never noticed the gorgeous color of his eyes or the way he smiles or the cute way he speaks.

“So do you know about Serg and Fernando?” Xabi asks trying desperately to keep the conversation from sliding back to musical instruments.

Nodding shortly, Steven doesn’t say much. He merely admits that he was apprehensive about Sergio at first, but after the previous night, he isn’t _as_ worried. Xabi tries not to take offense to Steven’s concern about Sergio, and he lets it go. Everyone knows Sergio is the school slut, and it would be odd for people to think the defender could settle down.

Just as the bell rings, Xabi works up the courage to ask Steven the question he’s been dying to ask him all period.

“Since you were in the stands and I was on the pitch, we really didn’t get to hang out last night so do you think you’d want to maybe hang out tonight? Or another night?” Xabi gives him a hopeful smile, and Steven considers turning him down simply because he’s still not quite sure of Xabi’s intensions, but after a moment of thought, he smiles.

“Sure. That sounds nice.”

Despite his hesitation to completely trust Xabi, Steven finds himself smiling for the rest of the day. He reveals to his friends his plans to see Xabi that day after school and they all mock him for it. That afternoon when he sees Xabi in the hallway in between classes they both smile at each other and Steven’s heart races when Xabi returns the look.

Unbeknownst to Steven, Xabi’s heart is beating just as quickly.

~

Just as Steven is throwing his books into his car and getting ready to drive home, Sergio Ramos appears at his door. Because he’s in a position where he is half in his car, half not, when Sergio surprises him, Steven hits his head on the roof.

“Bloody hell,” he shouts. When he looks up to see the school’s star defender, his mind goes blank. What in the world does Sergio Ramos want to do with Steven Gerrard?

Steven looks around nervously at the school parking lot. He isn’t exactly unpopular but Sergio’s social status is much higher than his own, and given their close proximity he doesn’t want people to get the wrong idea. 

“Can I ask you something?” Sergio whispers. He also appears self-conscious, but Steven concludes that it’s not because of the weird look they’re both getting from David Villa.

“I s’pose so,” Steven begrudgingly replies. It’s not like he’s got any choice in the matter. Sergio is pressing closer to him, like he doesn’t want anyone else to hear what he’s about to say. For a moment, Steven ignores Sergio’s question and just admires the look across the boy’s face. It’s a look of pure concern. The look suddenly switches to one of expectation. _Oh right_ , Steven thinks. He’s supposed to be listening to what Sergio has to ask him.

“Sorry?”

Sergio sighs and looks around once more at the parking lot. David Villa has retreated into his car, but he’s still eyeing the pair distastefully. Instead of taking it personally, Sergio merely rolls his eyes and turns back to Steven.

“Do you know if Fernando likes me?” he asks.

The question definitely isn’t what Steven had been expecting.

“Does—Wait, what?” he sputters out.

Looking truly desperate, Sergio utters the question once more.

“You want to know if Fernando _likes_ you? Like, like-likes you?” Steven almost wants to abandon the childish conversation, but he presses on when Sergio nods. “Do you… like-like him?”

“Yeah,” Sergio says quietly.

Deciding that the defender isn’t lying through his teeth, Steven admits what he believes to be the truth. “I think he does. He was really looking forward to going out to the diner with you, and he said that he had a good time so I’m assuming that things went well. So yeah, I bet he does.”

The smile that slowly spreads across Sergio’s face is so honest and real that it blows Steven away. _He must really like him,_ he thinks.

After a moment of slightly awkward silence, Steven motions to his car and asks, “Is that it then?”

Quickly stepping back from Steven’s car, Sergio nods a few times too many, a smile still covering his entire face. “Yeah. Thanks, mate?” The last bit is more like a question, like Sergio isn’t quite sure if he’s got the right to call Steven his mate. He nods once last time, but more to himself, and then scampers away.

Sliding back into his car, this time without hitting his head, Steven tries to recap in his mind what’s just happened.

“What a strange bloke,” he mutters to himself.

~

That night after he eats a whole pie of pizza with his parents, Steven finds himself at the house of Xabi Alonso. He’d been promised crisps and FIFA14, but even if Xabi didn’t have the latest version of the game, if he’d only had FIFA10, Steven would have gladly gone over his house. If that wasn’t the start of a great friendship, he didn’t know what was.

He is greeted at the door by Xabi’s mother, who looks as beautiful in real life as she does in the magazines. Steven stammers out a hello and then runs up the ornate staircase that leads to the second floor. From there he follows Mrs. Alonso’s instructions and finds Xabi sitting on the floor of his room, which is the third door on the left. He’s got his headphones in and he’s in the middle of a game. He plays as Raul of Real Madrid.

When Steven sits down next to him, Xabi slides off his head phones and quickly pauses the game just as the computer’s team is about to take a shot.

“Sorry,” he starts. “I would have answered the door myself but...” He gestures towards the game, and Steven nods like he understands, which he does.  “So do you want those crisps now or after I whip your butt at FIFA?” Xabi asks boldly.

“Ha, right. Little do you know, I’m a master at this game,” Steven insists.

And so Xabi hands him another set of headphones and a controller. Steven plays as Alex Livesey, aka one of his favorite players. They play a full match and Xabi’s team wins, but only after they go into a penalty shootout.

“Told you I’d whip your butt,” Xabi mocks.

Steven rolls his eyes and brushes off the loss with a clichéd comeback. “I definitely let you win. I felt bad for you is all.”

“Yeah, sure you did, mate” Xabi laughs.

He tries not to let it show, but Steven’s heart stops when Xabi calls him mate. It’s a completely different feeling to the one he got when Sergio called him it. This time he bites his lip and blinks a few times before noticing that Xabi’s giving him a weird look.

Not wanting Xabi to catch on to his secret crush, Steven switches the conversation.

“Have you been practicing your clarinet skills?”

Xabi’s mood spoils instantly.

“You just had to bring that up, didn’t you?” he mumbles. Before Steven can reply, Xabi stands up and throws himself onto his bed, talking a pillow and covering his face with it in the process.

“Jeez, Xab,” Steven says, sneakily slipping in a nickname. “It’s not a big deal.”

The boy quickly sits up and throws the pillow away. “It’s a big deal to me!”

“I don’t understand…” Steven says, slowly joining him on the bed. He sits quietly but Xabi doesn’t reply. “You already have straight As and you’re the captain of the football team. What does it matter if you can’t play some stupid instrument? It’s not like you’re going to university for musical arts.”

“I know, I know.” This time Xabi speaks he looks less angry and more disappointed. He glances over at Steven, making the boy’s heart skip a beat. “It’s just… My dad’s a world class football player and my mum is a model. They’re both really successful, and I just want to be as successful as them, and I’m just afraid that if I fail at something like playing the clarinet, maybe I’m going to start failing at everything else. Maybe--”

Steven stops him before he can finish. “None of those things are going to happen. You’re going to be just as successful as them. I can tell,” he insists. And for the moment, Xabi appears to believe him.

“Thanks… Do you still mind helping me practice though?”

“No,” Steven responds just a bit too quickly to be casual. “I mean, no—yeah, I don’t mind at all…”

It’s too late though. Xabi noticed Steven’s over eagerness and now his eyebrows are raised. He doesn’t say anything to embarrass Steven though; instead he moves slightly closer to the boy and squints slightly at Steven’s pink lips.

Heart racing, Steven immediately notices the way the mood of the room has shifted. Seconds ago he had felt sad because Xabi was upset, and now… now he feels like he is going to explode. He and Xabi hardly know each other, and yet all he wants to do was kiss him.

And he might have if Mr. Alonso hadn’t called up from the ground floor saying that the match was about to start.

“Who’s playing?” Steven asks.

Xabi blinks a couple times, trying to figure out what Steven’s asking him before he responds. “Uh, Liverpool and Manchester United, I think… Why? Do you want to watch?”

Steven isn’t about to say no to watching a football match, especially not when Liverpool are playing, so he and Xabi run down the stairs and make it to the living room in time for kick-off.

~

The second Fernando sits down at their lunch table, Pepe drills him with questions about his “date” with Sergio. Happy that his friends aren’t asking him about his own evening, Steven leans back in his chair and smirks at Fernando’s discomfort.

“Did you guys have sex yet?” Pepe asks.

Fernando sprays his mouthful of Coca-Cola across the table. He coughs a little bit and Frank slaps him on the back and grins mockingly.

“Is that a yes then?” is Pepe’s follow-up question.

“No! It’s a no!” Fernando says frustrated.

John rolls his eyes as he tries to wipe the soda off his jumper. “I think it’s a yes judging by that reaction.”

Growing an alarming shade of red, Fernando covers his face with his hands and mumbles, “We haven’t even kissed yet.”

After Steven gives Pepe a warning look, they leave the blonde boy alone (much to Fernando’s relief). But the table’s silence is short lived after Frank mentions that he saw Steven’s car in Xabi Alonso’s driveway.

“Oh, really?” Pepe asks with a smirk.

“Frank, you are an absolute arse,” Steven mutters as the onslaught of questions begins.

Steven tries to block out his friend’s obsessive questions and instead he looks over at the other lunch tables around theirs. He spots Sergio and Xabi sitting at one a few tables away. Theirs is tucked away in the corner of the lunch room. Sergio appears to be listening intently to a story that Cristiano Ronaldo is telling and Xabi is looking down at his sandwich. He’s got some stubble appearing across his cheeks, which tells Steven that he didn’t shave the night before because he’s normally very clean shaven. _Why the heck do I know that?_ Steven asks himself.

After a moment of staring at Xabi, Steven glances back at his friends who are still assaulting him with their intrusive questions.

“Can you guys not?” he asks not evening responding to any of their many questions.

He glances over at Xabi’s table once more. Sergio is still listening to Cristiano, but now Xabi is looking at the clock. His eyes scan the room for a second and eventually he finds Steven, who suddenly blushes because he’s been caught staring. Steven nearly chokes on his pizza when Xabi winks at him.

“You alright, mate?” John asks before trying to find the source of Steven’s reaction. Luckily, John doesn’t notice Xabi snickering back at his table.

“Yeah yeah, I’m fine,” Steven insists, but his face is still slightly red.  

~

“Who did you just wink at?” David Villa asks.

Xabi glances over his friend and mumbles dismissively. Then he takes a peek at Steven’s table and begins laughing at the boy’s blushing face.

“Why are you laughing?” David questions.

“No reason,” Xabi says, but David doesn’t believe him.

Trying to change the subject, Xabi casually asks Sergio about his night out with Fernando. Everyone else at the table abandons Cristiano’s story (including Cristiano) and waits patiently for Sergio to describe his latest conquest. They all expect for him to recount another one-night-stand, but that’s not what they get.

“Uh, we went to the diner, and then we had desert at that ice cream shop near the mall.”

They all look at him like he’s got three heads (except for Xabi).

“What?” Sergio asks when David Villa gives him a look like he’s been slapped across the face.

“You didn’t hook up with him?” Gerard Pique asks in disbelief.

Shaking his head, Sergio explains that he actually kind of likes Fernando and that he doesn’t want to screw things up.

“So you’ve finally going to commit to one person?” Iker Casillas asks.

“Yeah. I mean I don’t want to sleep around if I’ve got a chance with Nando…”

Everyone’s eyes grow comically wide.

“So he’s _Nando_ now?” Cristiano asks.

“Yep,” Sergio replies. “Nando _is_ a shortened version of his name.”

Just as Cristiano is about to reply with another question, Gerard cuts in.

“Has anyone seen Cesc today?”

Everyone immediately forgets about Sergio’s date and looks around at the lunch table. How they managed to forget about Cesc amazes them all. Cesc is the youngest and they all treat him like a little brother. He hates it considering he’s technically the same age as them and just because they’re older by a few months doesn’t mean they have to babysit him, but they do it anyway. It’s just how their friendship works.

“I think he’s got detention,” David supplies. “I heard something about him throwing paper balls at Luis Suarez the other day. His physics teacher wasn’t too happy.”

They all roll their eyes at Cesc’s childish behavior.

“Only he would get detention for something as stupid as that,” Gerard comments and everyone agrees with a nod.

~

The Friday night, Sergio is sitting in his basement watching old James Bond movies with Cristiano when he gets a couple snapchats from someone using the name _StevieG._ He assumes its the boy in his grade, but when he opens up the message, it isn’t a picture of the bandie, but of the blonde boy he’s been “seeing”.

He laughs quietly to himself when he looks at the drunken pictures Fernando sent him. Most of them are of him with his tongue out or of the people around him, and a lot of them have pretty _interesting_ captions.

“What are you laughing at?” Cristiano asks. He glances over at Sergio’s phone and frowns at the picture on the screen. Then he looks sadly up and Sergio’s face. He’s got a smile on that is truer than Cristiano has seen in a while. “I’m gonna go,” he says quietly, thinking that Sergio wouldn’t even notice his departure.

His friend looks up immediately. “What do you mean you’re leaving? The movie isn’t even over yet.” Sergio looks hurt, but Cristiano doesn’t let it bother him. He can’t stand to be around his friend when he’s fawning over his new boyfriend/hook-up/whatever. Not when he feels the way he does.

“Sorry, I just—I have to… My mom said I have to be home.”

Yes, he plays the mom card. It’s the only sure-fire way to get out of a situation. Sadly, Sergio knows what he’s doing. He lowers his gaze to the floor and sighs.

“Okay, fine. I guess I’ll see you Monday?”

Cristiano nods. “Yeah, see you then.”

And then he leaves. Sergio watches him go up the steps of his basement to his main floor. He listens until he hears the front door shut quietly. As soon as he knows Cristiano is gone, he falls back into the couch and covers his face with the blankets that they’d been sharing.

 _What was that?_ He thinks to himself.

His phone’s screen lights up the room with another snapchat from Fernando. This time, Sergio ignores it and shuts his eyes.

He thinks about the night he and Cristiano had and tries to figure out why his friend would be so upset. Had he said something wrong? Did he smell? (He checks a few seconds later, he doesn’t). Was it… Was it because of Fernando? Cristiano had seemed fine up until Sergio started answering the snapchats. Did Cristiano not like Fernando? Did they have a previous history? Were they enemies? Now that he thought about it, Cristiano hadn’t offered his opinion on Fernando when Sergio first mentioned him to their friend-group.

“That must be it,” he whispers to himself. _Cris hates Fernando._

_~_

Lying on his bed (its nearly midnight and he’s not quite sure why he’s still awake), attempting to work on some of his homework, Xabi catches himself doodling the letters S.G. in the corner of his notebook paper in obnoxiously fancy script. He bites his lip and then reaches under his bed and pulls out his clarinet case.

He practices for about 1.4 seconds before deciding to text Steven.

            **Xabi:** playing the clarinet his harddd :(

            **Steven:** just keep practicing!

            **Xabi:** noo I suck I’m never going to get the hang of it

            **Steven:** yes you will stop complaining!!

            **Xabi:** :(

            **Steven:** :P

Smiling like a love-struck idiot, Xabi laughs and then puts his phone away. He doesn’t know why he texted him so late like that, especially about something as stupid as his clarinet, but it made him happy just to talk to Steven even for a little bit.

 _I hardly know him,_ Xabi thinks. And yet, it truly doesn’t bother him. He’s technically known Steven for years. Sure he doesn’t know him personally too well, but he figures that being in someone’s grade for the past few years at least counts for something.

That night, instead of doing his math homework, he doodles little hearts all over his worksheet and eventually playing a round of FIFA by himself.

About an hour later he gets a Snapchat from some account titled _StevieG_. The picture he’s greeted with is of Steven Gerrard lying on the floor with a couple beer bottles sitting next to him. The caption is “Stevie had a few too many”. A few seconds later he gets another Snapchat from the same account but this time the picture is of Fernando Torres taking a selfie with an unconscious Steven and Frank Lampard. In the back ground he can see Pepe and Luis Suarez playing beer pong.

“Well, I know now what Steven does on his weekends…” Xabi says quietly to himself.

He decides not to send a reply and tries to go back to sleep, but he is suddenly wide awake when he receives yet another Snapchat. This time it is solely of Fernando, but instead of the smile he had on in the last one, he’s pictured with his tongue out and there’s a suggestive caption that Xabi doesn’t quite understand.

 _He’s drunk… He probably doesn’t even realize he’s using Steven’s phone,_ Xabi thinks.

Just as Xabi’s thinking about turning off his phone, he receives a fourth message. In the newest selfie from Fernando, his eyes are wide and he looks apologetic. “Srory Xbi!!! Imeant t sendn tha to Serg.”

Feeling comforted that Fernando wasn’t trying to hit on him and also weirded out from accidentally being included in a couple’s private conversation, he shuts off his phone’s volume and goes back to sleep.

~

Steven wakes up the next morning underneath the table in Pepe’s kitchen. He’s got a raging headache, and he can’t remember a single thing he did the previous night. 

“Come celebrate Pepe’s birthday, they said. It’ll be fun, they said,” he mumbles bitterly to himself as he rubs his temples and slowly sits up.

Across the room he can see Fernando passed out on the couch with Frank practically lying on top of John on the other couch. Luis Suarez is asleep on the coffee table, and David Luiz is seated at the dining room table with his head against the glass top, an empty bottle of Vodka resting near his head.

Asking himself why the hell he attended the party, Steven shakes his head at his unconscious friends and tries to stand up. He stumbles a bit but manages to make it to his feet.

He decides not to wait for his mates to regain consciousness and instead grabs his car keys and leaves the house. Sleeping in the front lawn is the birthday boy himself. As he passes him, Steven nudges his arm with his foot and kneels down to whisper, “Pepe, mate, you gotta get up before someone reports you.”

His friend stirs and he ends up helping him back into the house before he leaves.

After finally making it to his house, he crashes onto his bed and promptly falls asleep for the next few hours. At around noon, he’s woken up by a message from Xabi.

            **Xabi:** um had an interesting night yeah?

Steven shakes his head in confusion.

            **Steven:** yeah… why do you know that?

            **Xabi:** Oops that probably sounded creepy. Last night I got a couple of snapchats from Fernando…             He must have been drunkenly using your phone and didn’t realize it

            **Steven:** huh… what did they say?

Xabi proceeds to tell him about the pictures and how he might have been included in a sext from Fernando and Sergio.

            **Steven:** bloody hell... he’s probably gonna regret that when he’s sober

            **Xabi:** yeah?

            **Steven:** yeah… he doesn’t want to rush into things

            **Xabi:** :/ serg will understand tho… he likes fernando

            **Steven:** yeah he told me the other day

            **Xabi:** he did?

            **Steven:** Yep… he cornered me by my car and asked if I knew how fer felt about him

            **Xabi:** :O

            **Steven:** haha that was basically my reaction too

 


	2. Apocalyptic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like last time, this is for my best friend.

They don’t talk until Monday. And by the time Monday rolls around and Xabi sees Steven walk into their band class, he knows that he is a goner. Steven walks in with tight fitted jeans, converse, and a red Liverpool t-shirt. Trying not to seem like he’s staring at him, Xabi looks back down at his sheet music and pretends to read it. As if he understands what the foreign symbols mean. He squints at the notes and tries to remember the rhyme for figuring out which note is which that Steven told him about.

“Every good boy gets fudge… Wait. No, it’s--”

He stops when Steven sits down next to him. Over the past few classes, they’ve been sitting next to each other. And neither boy minds because they’re each other’s only friends in the class.

“Having trouble?” Steven asks. He’s smirking.

“You know I hate this stuff,” Xabi replies.

Steven spends the rest of the period trying to help Xabi figure out the sheet music. Now that he knows Xabi’s reasoning for trying to learn how to play an instrument, he is more willing to help him. Before he secretly thought that Xabi was just being ridiculous, but he sympathizes with him now. It must be hard to have to live up to the expectations put on by his incredibly successful parents and, most importantly, by himself.

The bell rings and Steven gathers up all his stuff. He turns back to look at Xabi, who is still rummaging through his book bag. He pauses for a moment, considers his words, and then works up the courage to say them out loud.   

“Do you want to go to the movies tonight?”

Xabi looks up at him and smiles.

“Depends on the movie,” he says.

“There’s a new one out about the Apocalypse.” Suddenly, he regrets asking. Xabi probably doesn’t want to see a movie with him. He probably has better, more important, things to do and more important people to hang out with.

Much to Steven’s surprise he says yes.

“Great. Uh, I’ll drive if you want.”

“Okay,” Xabi says with a smile.

Despite their eagerness to see more of each other, both boys look away nervously. They bite their lips and then silently grab their books and walk out of class together. Both turning in the same direction, they silently agree to walk to their next classes together. It’s the last class they have before their lunch period. Xabi stops once he gets to a door labeled _406_.

“Well, I have math… so I guess I’ll see you.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Steven continues walking and stops a couple doors down. He leans up against the wall and smiles briefly before going inside.

~

Xabi sits down at his desk in between Sergio and Iker with a smile on his face that’s lasted since Steven asked him to go to the movies. His friends both lean in close and smirk.

“What’s got you so happy?” Sergio asks curiously.

“Is it because of Steven?” Iker asks, his voice is joking and light, but he gasps quietly when he realizes that his joke is actually the truth. “Oh my god, it’s because of Steven, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Xabi breathes.

Sergio laughs and clasps his hand on Xabi’s shoulder.

“Wow, hermano, he’s got you bad. Just look at yourself!”

“Who’s Steven?” a voice calls from the back of the classroom.

The trio turns around to see Cesc sitting in the back row with his feet up on the desk in front of him. He doesn’t have a single book on his desk and he has his headphones in his ears.

“Why are you sitting all the way back there?” Xabi asks.

“There’s more leg room,” Cesc replies matter-of-factly.

He’s got a point so they let it go, but he doesn’t. They still haven’t answered his question.

“So who’s Steven?” he repeats.

“Xabi’s boyfriend,” Sergio says quickly.

Xabi blushes and pushes some of Sergio’s papers off his desk. Then he rolls his eyes and turns back to Cesc. “He’s not my boyfriend. We’re just friends.”

“Okay,” Cesc says. “But do you _want_ him to be your boyfriend?”

Look on Xabi’s face is the only answer he needs.

“Wow,” Cesc whistles. “Mr. Perfect is finally settling down.”

Xabi immediately frowns. “Don’t call me that.”

He hadn’t intended to offend his friend so he puts his hands up in defeat. “Sorry, hombre, I didn’t--”

“I know. It’s fine.”

~

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Fernando asks. He turns to look at the boy leaning against the lockers next to him, but looks back down at his books when Sergio meets his eyes.

“Do _you_ want to?”

Fernando nods. “I mean… I just wanted to clarify that I was drunk, and I don’t usually sext people after the first date.”

Laughing quietly to himself, Sergio shrugs. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t mind.”

His comment makes Fernando’s ears turn red. He kneels down so he can get the books at the bottom of his locker, and when he stands up Sergio is much closer to him than he was before.

“You know, some people say that when we’re drunk it heightens our feelings… So I think,” he murmurs. “I think that you wanted to do all the things you snapchatted me about.”

The blonde nearly drops his books all over the floor.

“Uh…” His brain can’t form words as he desperately tries to think of how to respond.

“I’m only kidding,” Sergio says with a laugh.

“Oh. Uh, ha ha.” Fernando tries to hide the blush that’s still covering his face. He doesn’t want to admit that Sergio is right. And how could he not be? Sergio is gorgeous. He's built well from his years of playing soccer and his ascetics are definitely spot on. Anyone would have to be blind to not see how attractive he is.

“So do you want to come over tonight?” Sergio asks.

“Sure,” Fernando breathes. Sergio is still really close to him, so close that if he inched forward just a little bit he’d be able to kiss those lips that he’d been dying to kiss.

Fortunately for Fernando, Sergio is thinking the same exact thing. He doesn’t even glance around to see if anyone is watching (which is what Fernando probably would have done), and instead he just moves in a kisses Fernando.

Gasping with surprise, Fernando’s feet take him a step back, which Sergio interprets as disapproval. He leans back and frowns.

“Sorry! I-uh, I should have--”

Instead of letting him finish, Fernando kisses him back, immediately silencing the defender. They break away when they hear the clicking of heals across the tile.

“So my house?” Sergio asks.

“Yeah,” Fernando replies, his eyes still closed.

Sergio smiles at the freckled boy standing in front of him and pecks his lips one last time before grabbing his hand and towing him out of the school.

~

Xabi is still standing in front of his bedroom mirror trying to decide which shirt to wear when Steven pulls up in front of his house and sends him a text that says “here :)”.

“Crap!” Xabi whispers to himself. He looks back in the mirror one last time and throws on a shirt that he bought from the school football team’s fundraiser back in the summer. After he grabs his wallet and fluffs his hair one last time, he runs down the stairs and stops just before he gets to the front door. Then he composes himself and walks casually out of the house, looking just as suave as he usually does. He breathes evenly like his heart isn’t racing (which it is).

When he sits down in the car, Steven smiles at him and Xabi returns it with equal happiness. They both sit comfortably in a silence for a few seconds before Steven turns on the radio.

The rest of the car ride is filled with casual conversation about school, sports, and then it shifts to their favorites.

“Favorite movie?” Xabi asks.

Steven gasps dramatically. “I can’t pick a favorite! What kind of question is that?” Xabi’s eyes crinkle as he laughs in that cute way that Steven absolutely adores. “Why? Do you have a favorite?” he asks.

He thinks for a couple of seconds and then shakes his head. “I can’t say I do. Maybe this one will be my new favorite.”

“Yeah, you’ll probably love it ‘cause I’m sitting next to you,” Steven jokes.

“Ha. Yeah probably,” Xabi replies, sounding completely serious.

Looking over at him from the corner of his eye, Steven sees Xabi look down and smile and then glance over at Steven. Their eyes meet for a second and then Steven looks back at the road. They get to the theater just a few seconds before the movie starts so they skip the soda and popcorn. The theater’s gone dark by the time they arrive so they find two seats near the back so they don’t have to clamber over anyone.

The movie isn't spectacular nor is it horrible, but half way through it Steven notices that Xabi’s fallen asleep on Steven’s shoulder. He laughs a bit to himself and watches the rest of the movie.

Still completely asleep, Xabi doesn't stir, not even a little bit, when the lights in the theater go up, and if Steven had his way he wouldn’t have woken him up, but the theater’s workers come in with their brooms and trash cans and clean up the spilled popcorn on the floor from the little kids who’d been in the front row. One of them gives Steven and Xabi a weird look (they’re the last people in the theater) and so Steven shifts his shoulder just slightly and Xabi opens his eyes immediately. He blinks a couple times before slowly lifting his head. He looks over a Steven, without completely lifting his head up, and they’re only a few inches from each other.

One of the workers drops their broom, which makes a loud noise that carries through the entire theater. Xabi’s eyes widen at the noise and it seems to wake him up completely. He takes in how close he and Steven are and he jumps back slightly.

“I can’t believe I fell asleep,” Xabi says.

“Don’t worry about it,” Steven replies. He laughs a little at Xabi’s cheek which is slightly pinkish from resting on Steven’s shoulder for over an hour.

“Was it a good movie?” Xabi laughs guilty as he asks.

“Yeah. It was good.” But Steven isn’t talking about the movie. In the few minutes that he was aware of Xabi on his shoulder, he completely forgot about the movie. Almost like his brain completely erased all its data as soon as he started thinking about Xabi.

“That’s good,” Xabi says. He looks down at Steven’s lips and bites his own. Feeling the urge to lean in and kiss them, he starts to, but he stops when he hears one of the workers clear their throat. He and Steven both glance over at the middle aged guy standing in front of them.

“I need to clean up this area,” the man explains to them.      

They both hurriedly get to their feet and exit the theater, laughing quietly to themselves. As soon as they exit the building, they’re hit with a burst of cold air. Xabi rubs his bare arms and Steven tries to cover his ears with the hood of his sweatshirt.

“English weather sucks,” Steven says mostly to himself, but Xabi hears it over the roar of the wind.

“Yeah, I agree. I miss the sun in Spain. It was always nice there.” He smiles nostalgically and looks up at the grey clouds with distaste.

Still freezing, the boys sigh with relief when they slide into the Steven’s car. He blasts the heat and they both sit in the heated seats for a minute, taking in the warmth that they’d missed.

After a few minutes, Steven pulls out of the parking lot and drives back to Xabi’s house. He parks in the boy’s driveway and then turns to say goodbye. He doesn’t get to say it though because Xabi’s already undone his seat belt and moved closer to Steven.

“I guess I’ll--”

He stops when Xabi presses his lips to Steven’s. Xabi pulls away after a few seconds, and just as he does, Steven moves closer and captures his lips with his own. Once again Xabi pulls away. Both boys laugh at each other’s blushing cheeks and then look down at the floor of the car.

“See you,” Xabi says.

“Y-yeah,” Steven manages to choke out.

Xabi turns and opens the car door, but just before he leaves he turns back and kisses Steven one last time.

“Bye, Stevie,” he whispers.

Stuck in a trance, Steven sits in the car watching Xabi walk away and then staring at the Alonsos’ front door for several minutes before he manages to focus on driving back to his house.

~

Needing to talk to someone about the events of that night, Xabi drives over to Sergio’s house almost immediately after Steven finally pulls away.

He rings the doorbell and enters smiling when Mrs. Ramos answers it. She explains that Sergio’s up in his room so Xabi runs up the stairs and doesn’t even bother knocking when he gets to Sergio’s room. In retrospect, he probably should have knocked. Or at least warned Sergio that he was coming over.

The room he sees when he enters is just as messy as it normally is, but he can’t see Sergio anywhere. However, when he walks in the floor creeks and suddenly a body appears from the mound of covers sitting upon Sergio’s bed.

“Hey, Xabi,” Sergio says. He isn’t wearing a shirt.

“Um, hey--”

A second later, another body appears from the pile of blankets. Xabi blushes as soon as he sees who it is. But at least he _is_ wearing a shirt.

“Oh. Uh, hi Fernando.”

The blonde boy doesn’t appear to be phased by Xabi’s intrusion.

“Hey, Xabi!” he replies smiling like he isn’t lying in bed with a shirtless Sergio.

Blushing more than he’d like to admit, Xabi blinks a few times and then tries to leave without making things more awkward than they already are (at least for him).

“I’m gonna leave you two to…” he makes exaggerated hand gestures and then makes for the door.         

“Wait!” Sergio says. He tries to stand up, and because Xabi is under the impression that Sergio is naked he quickly covers his eyes and waves Sergio away.

After a few seconds of silence, he uncovers his eyes and looks at Sergio and Fernando through his fingers. Both of them are now sitting above the covers and neither of them is naked. In fact, Sergio’s lack of a shirt is the only missing item of clothing. “Oh,” Xabi mumbles.

“You’re a presumptuous pervert,” Sergio says jokingly.

“I am not!” Xabi defends.

Fernando laughs at the two friends and then throws Sergio his shirt, which is on his side of the bed. As Sergio pulls it on, he gives Xabi another weird look and asks, “What are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to tell you about… um... my evening,” Xabi says lamely.

Instead of making a comment like “haven’t you ever heard of a phone?” like Xabi expects Sergio to say, his friend’s eyes widen and he pats a spot on the bed enthusiastically.

“Sit and tell us,” he insists.

“Um…”

Fernando senses the tension in the room and says, “I can leave if you want. I know we’re not close.”

“No, it’s fine,” Xabi says mostly to Sergio’s relief (he really didn’t want Fernando to go anywhere). “I went to the movies with Stevie tonight.”

This was common knowledge to the two boys but they didn’t know that Xabi had started using a nickname for his new… friend.

“So he’s _Stevie_ now?” Fernando asks.

Xabi blushes. “I guess. I don’t know…”

“So how was the movie,” Sergio asks. He makes air quotes with his fingers when he says movie. He knows that Xabi wouldn’t have come over to talk to him about his night if they’d only seen a movie and that was it.

“Ha, yeah… I didn’t see the movie.”

Sergio gasps. “Oh so it was one of those classic ‘we’re going to see a movie, but in reality we’re just gonna make out in the back of the theater’ things… Good for you, Xabi. I’m proud.”

Rolling his eyes, Xabi finally sits down on the bed with the two other boys.

“No,” he says. “That’s not what happened.”

Fernando’s face scrunches in confusion. “Then how come you didn’t see the movie?”

“I fell asleep.”

Both boys wince.

“Oh, Xabi, no…” Sergio says sympathetically.

“I fell asleep on him though, so I think it was okay…”

 Fernando shrugs. “Yeah, I’d say that’d be cute.”

“Anyway, after the movie he drove me home and then before he dropped me off, we--”

“Had sex?” Sergio interrupts.

“—kissed.”

“Oh,” Sergio says.

“Anyway..." I’m gonna leave you two alone now,” Xabi says, feeling self-conscious. “Sorry about interrupting… things.”

Before either of them can reply, Xabi stands up and hurries out the door.

~

Usually when Sergio tells the lunch table about his one-night-stands or his hook-ups, everyone listens intently because Sergio is the god of not committing, and they all live vicariously through him, except maybe Iker who isn’t really that interested in sleeping with people he doesn’t care about. That lunch period, Sergio starts talking about how he really likes Fernando and how he doesn’t want to screw things up with him because with him things are _different_. And as soon as he says the word, Cristiano wants to gag. He wants to stand up and punch Sergio in the face because why couldn’t things have been _different_ with him?

Their hook-ups had only lasted a few months in sophomore year and they ultimately ended just before junior year started. It had been mutual, but Cristiano is starting to regret ending it. And that is basically why he snaps.

“And I just really hope things work out with Nan--”

“Can you please just shut up already?” Cristiano spits out without looking up from his lunch. It’s pasta day.

Sergio blinks a few times and then turns to face Cristiano. They’re sitting next to each other. Everyone else at the table is on full alert. Both Sergio and Cristiano have looks on their faces that say they mean business, that and that they aren’t afraid to punch something.

“Excuse me?” Sergio asks trying to be casual, but his frustration is already starting to bubble over, still under the impression that Cristiano hates Fernando.

“I said,” Cristiano says bitterly. “Can you please just _shut up_ already?”

“Alright, Cris, I know you don’t like Nando, but--”

“What?!”

Confused, Sergio’s eyebrows scrunch and he glances around at the other boys at the table for support. David Villa shrugs and Pique looks away to Cesc who’s eating his French fries and staring at Cristiano and Sergio like they’re a Soap Opera.

“I know you hate Nando,” Sergio starts again, but Cristiano silences him immediately.

“I don’t hate Fernando,” he says firmly.

“Then what’s your problem?!” Sergio says a tad too loudly. People from the other lunch tables turn their attention to the two football players. From across the lunch room, Xabi is standing by the condiment line. He squeezes the last bit of ketchup onto his burger and walks hurriedly over to his table. On his way there, he passes by Steven and his friends who all give him a look that says ‘What the heck is wrong with your friends?’

He sits down in his usual spot just before chaos breaks lose.

“I…” Cristiano says lamely. He looks to Xabi, who isn’t aware of his romantic predicament, but is usually very perceptive so Cristiano hopes that he’ll know what to say, but Xabi doesn’t. He stares helplessly back at his friend and shrugs. _What am I supposed to do_? the shrug says.

“Well?” Sergio prompts. His face is turning red and he ignores the other boys in the cafeteria, who are all staring intently.

Regretting speaking in the first place, Cristiano admits, “I’d rather not say here.”

Sergio rolls his eyes and laughs. “You’re joking.”

“No, I… Fine, forget I said anything.”

“Just tell me,” Sergio hisses. He’s beginning to look like if he doesn’t find out what’s going on he’ll scream.

“I can’t tell you here,” Cristiano insists. He’s got this look in his eyes that begs Sergio to let it go, and usually Sergio would crumble at a look like that, but now he’s angry and he’s not just going to let it slide.

“Fuck you,” Sergio replies.

Cristiano frowns. “Serg--”

“Why do you have a problem with me and Fernando?!” Sergio shouts.

“Because!” Cristiano shouts back, and the begging look in his eye is gone. Now he’s just as frustrated as Sergio.

“Because why?!”

“BECAUSE I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU.”

The statement echoes through the lunch room and everyone immediately goes silent. Fernando looks down at his hamburger and Steven gasps quietly. Cesc eats his French fries quicker and Gerard rolls his eyes at him. Iker bites his lip and fights the urge to comfort both of his friends, and Xabi merely looks over at Steven’s table in order to see Fernando’s reaction. He isn’t too shocked by Cristiano’s confession.

Sergio is quieter than he’s ever been in his life. He appears to stop breathing and he doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, which makes something break inside of Cristiano. Not wanting to have the entire lunch room stare at him with pity, Cristiano stands up and slams the remainder of his lunch into the trash bin. He walks out of the cafeteria without making eye contact with anyone and he lets the door slam just as loudly as his lunch behind him.

The lunch room rises to its regular volume a minute later because everyone is gossiping about the recent events.

Still silent, Sergio looks up and tries to find Fernando’s eyes, but he won’t look at him. He glances back at his table and everyone looks sullen.

“Did you guys know?” he asks.

They all shake their heads except for Xabi. He merely shrugs like he hadn’t been sure.

Looking around desperately at his friends, Sergio asks, “Should I go talk to him?”

“What about Fernando?” Iker asks.

“What about him?”

Iker sighs and looks around for support. “If you go talk to Cris, then Fernando might assume that you… I don’t know, like him too. That you want to reconcile with him.”

“But I _do_ want to reconcile with him… just not… _romantically_.” But they don’t believe him because he looks almost happy. Like he’s glad to know that Cristiano is in love with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> leave a comment, and let me know what you thought! :)
> 
> also, let me know if you see any grammar issues!
> 
> http://jamesrodrguez.tumblr.com


	3. Drama K7ng

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LA DECIMA!!!!! 
> 
> That has nothing to do with this chapter... I'm just SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW.

After he runs out of the cafeteria, Cristiano lets his feet take him to his locker and then to the nurses office. He tells her that he feels like he’s going to puke and she sends him home without hesitation. He drives himself back to his house and ignores his mother’s questioning look as he stumbles up the stairs and throws himself onto his bed. He takes his pillows one at a time and throws them at the wall.

“Cristiano?” he hears his mother call from the other side of the door. The way she uses his full name shows just how worried she is.

“I’m fine Mom,” he says. “I just-I couldn’t stay at school.”

She starts to protest but stops herself. Cristiano is a senior in high school who has never skipped class in his life so she figures that he deserves this one skip day.

Thankful that his mother decides to leave him alone, Cristiano stops throwing his pillows and instead settles back against his bed. He closes his eyes and runs his hands across his face.

“Fuck,” he moans. He knows that he let his emotions get the better of him. And yet, he knows that he couldn’t help it. Cristiano has always been an emotional guy, he just _feels_ everything, he is a hurricane in a human body, and when Sergio wouldn’t let him be, he just had to react. Even if it screwed everything up.

He lays motionless on his bed until he hears his phone go off. Sitting up cautiously, he looks at his phone, which is vibrating on his desk across the room. He lets it buzz for a few minutes before he decides to answer it, and when he does, he has six text messages from his friends and two missed calls (three texts from Xabi and three from Iker, and the missed calls are both from Iker). It almost makes him smile.

                        **Xabi:** are you okay?

                        **Xabi:** dumb question…

                        **Xabi:** where are you??

                        **Iker:** do you want to talk?

                        **Iker:** cris?

                        **Iker:** im sorry…

Clutching his phone like it’s his life support, Cristiano falls back onto his bed and texts his friends back.

                        **Cris (to Xabi):** im at my house

                        **Cris (to Iker):** not right now... but thanks

Even though he knows that the call wouldn’t go well at all, Cristiano feels the overwhelming desire to call Sergio. To tell him that, haha, he was just kidding. Totally fooled him. But he knew that that wouldn’t work. Sergio would never believe him.

“Damn him,” Cristiano says to himself. It’s all Sergio’s fault. If he hadn’t been so fucking beautiful and wonderful and funny and talented and sexy and—

“Stop it!” Cristiano wines. The last time he felt this helpless was when his father passed away. “J-just stop feeling,” he begs himself. “Stop.” He suddenly feels like he’s going to cry. The tears are already appearing in his eyes and instead of letting himself cry openly like a normal person with real emotions, Cristiano slams his face into his comforter and sobs.

There’s a knock on his door a few minutes later.

“Cristiano?” his mother calls from the other side of the door.

He lifts his head up from the bed just high enough to respond back with, “Go away.”

Luckily for him, she doesn’t listen.

She hesitantly opens the door, despite the disgruntled sound that comes from boy on the bed. Walking quietly, and with as much sympathy as any mother, she carefully sits down next to her son and places her hand reassuringly on his back and rubs gentle circles into his shoulders and spine.

“What happened today?” she asks. She isn’t forceful or impatient; she sits silently as she waits for Cristiano to reply. It comes a full minute later.

At first she isn’t quite sure what he’s trying to say because he’s got his face plastered into his comforter, but after he starts to speak, and realizes that she won’t be able to understand him, he lifts his head up and speaks quietly. “Today I told someone I loved them… and I knew they didn’t feel the same way, but I said it anyway, and the entire lunch room heard me get rejected.”

“Aw, _filho_ ,” she says. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s my own fault. I told him that I wanted to talk about it in private, but he wouldn’t let it go so I just got so frustrated a-and…”

“It’ll all work out,” his mother insists. She sounds genuine and for a second Cristiano believes her, but then his phone buzzes with a text from Sergio that says “we should talk” and his entire world comes crashing down and again.

~

The minute the bell rings and the lunch room is dismissed, Sergio finds Fernando through the crowd of teenage boys. He grabs his arm and pulls him aside. Fernando struggles at first, but once he sees that it’s Sergio, he melts. 

“Um…” Sergio isn’t quite sure how to start this conversation. “Did you hear what... what, uh…”

“Yeah.” Fernando’s voice is clipped, but he isn’t mad. He just doesn’t know what to say. 

“Should we…?”

“Talk?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to?”

“Not really. Do you?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Oh, okay.”

Fernando sighs and gives Sergio a look. “We have to talk about it…”

“Do we?” he replies jokingly.

“Yeah. You can’t just pretend it didn’t happen.”

“Okay. I guess you’re right.” Sergio looks dumbly at his feet. He hates talking about his feelings, especially to boys he’s got feelings for about other boys whom he might _also_ have (secret) feelings for. “Where should we…?” he starts.

“Do you want to come over after school?”

“Yeah. Okay. I’ll see you,” he replies, finally looking up from his shoes, which are falling apart from old age and make him look like a homeless man, and half-smiles at the boy in front of him. Sergio isn’t the type of person to set aside his own discomfort for some boy, and yet, he finds himself completely willing to talk about things with Fernando.

Completely, confident that the events of that lunch haven’t affected their relationship, Fernando kisses Sergio on the cheek before scurrying off to the class that he’s already late for.

Sergio stands alone in the cafeteria and pulls out his phone to text Cristiano. He figures that if he and Fernando need to talk, than he and Cristiano might as well.

~

“Did you know?” Steven asks.

He’s sitting comfortably on the floor of Xabi’s room with his back against Xabi’s bed and a controller in his hand. Xabi is lying flat on the floor, a pillow propping his head up and his legs resting across Steven’s lap. They’re playing FIFA, of course, and this time, miraculously, Steven is winning.

“Know what?” Xabi shifts slightly as he silently pleads with his players to comply. Steven scores. In the beginning of the match, Xabi had been letting Steven win, because he was trying to think about what to do with Sergio and Cristiano and he let his mind slip from the game, but now he’s actually trying to win. He’s got a streak to uphold.

“Did you--” Steven bites his lower lip as Xabi’s counterattack nearly gets him a goal. “Uh, know about Cristiano? Liking Sergio, I mean.”

“No. And I feel like an awful friend for not realizing it.”

Xabi takes a shot.

“Don’t.”

The goalkeeper barely keeps it out of the net.

“Sorry, Stevie, but the whole point of the game is to score.”

Sighing, Steven pauses the game and places his controller on the floor. He gives Xabi a meaningful look. “I meant you don't have to feel like an awful friend. ‘Cause you’re not.”

“But I can’t help it,” Xabi wines, pulling the pillow from under his head and covering his face with it. Steven isn’t quite sure what to do so he sits silently for a few seconds. He hears Xabi mumbling incoherently into his pillow. If it were anyone else he’d probably be laughing at them, but it’s Xabi. Xabi isn’t supposed to be upset. He’s always so calm and composed. Graceful and poised.

Not really thinking before acting, Steven shuffles onto his knees, careful not to disturb Xabi’s legs too much, and holds himself over Xabi. His knees are by Xabi’s hips and his palms are placed just at Xabi’s ears. The boy hears the scuffling and removes the pillow from his face only to be nose to nose with Steven. Xabi’s heart leaps into his throat.

“What are you doing?” he whispers.

“Get a grip of yourself,” Steven commands, ignoring Xabi’s question.

Xabi raises his eyebrows. “Stev--”

“This isn’t your fault. Don’t be sorry or feel guilty.”

Eyes wide, Xabi’s face turns slightly red from their closeness.

“Uh, Stevie--”

“It’s not your responsibility to make sure everyone is happy and that--”

“This is actually really hot.”

“—there is no drama. You can only be responsible--”

“Like _really_ hot.”

“—for your own happiness.”

“Like it’s a total turn-on.”

“Got it?!”

Since Steven wasn’t really paying attention to Xabi until the very end, he blinks a few times and then gives Xabi a half-smile-half-smirk look. “Total turn-on?”

Xabi nods. “Totally. Very commanding. Super macho.”

“Shut up,” Steven laughs as he rolls over so that he’s lying next to Xabi on the floor.

“I was being serious.”

Steven glances over at Xabi who’s already looking at him with a smirk. Now it’s Steven’s turn to blush.

“Shut up,” he says again.

“Okay,” Xabi replies.

Steven leans in and presses his lips to Xabi’s. Xabi responds by rolling over onto his side and kissing Steven back.

~

“I’m hungry.”

Gerard looks up from his math textbook and rolls his eyes at his friend. “You _just_ ate an entire bag of potato chips.”

“But I’m still hungry, Geri!” Cesc wines. He rolls onto his back and stares at the ceiling, imagining that the ceiling fan is a giant revolving pizza with pepperoni and extra cheese, and he can already feel his mouth water. He's about to beg for pizza, but then he remembers that he had it already for lunch. “Let’s go out for tacos!” Cesc shouts.

Not looking up from his homework, Gerard shakes his head.

“Please!” Cesc leaps off the bed and practically sits on top of Gerard, who’s sitting in his blue beanbag chair on the floor.

“You know,” Gerard starts. “For an emo you’re way too happy.”

Rolling his eyes, Cesc scoffs at his giraffe of a friend. “I only wear the black and act like a jackass in school to annoy my parents.”

Laughing quietly, Gerard turns his attention back to his math homework. He’s got a test the next day and if he doesn’t focus he’s never going to pass, and he _needs_ to pass. His scholarship is riding on him doing well in all of his core classes.

“It’ll take like thirty minutes!” Cesc begs. When Gerard doesn’t look up, he stills out his lower lip and puts his face right next to Gerard’s. “Por favor, hermano?”

Gerard darts his eyes to Cesc’s face and then sighs, which Cesc immediately takes as a yes. He jumps off the beanbag chair and runs around the room, cheering.

“Let’s go!” he shouts. “Get your keys. I need some fake Mexican food, like, _now_.”

Standing up slowly and trying not to see too excited, Gerard grabs his keys and wallet and follows Cesc down the hallway and out to the driveway where his car is parked. He won’t admit it, but he’s really in the mood for tacos.

~

After Cristiano pulls himself off his bed, he drags himself down the stairs and out the front door. His mom asks where he’s going and he waves her off, saying that he has to go study. It’s true that he should be studying, but when he drives over to Iker’s house and his little brother, Unai, answers the door, he has no intentions of studying for his math test. His teacher will have to just accept that he’s never going to improve Cristiano’s math grade. It’s hopeless.

Iker is sitting on his bed with his feet tucked in like a pretzel. He’s holding a book titled “The Dubliners” and Cristiano thinks that Iker couldn’t get any more pretentious if he tried. The book isn’t even in their curriculum, and yet the vice-captain is reading it for fun. Lame.

He looks up from the book when Cristiano enters the room and sets it aside.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hi.” Cristiano slides off his shoes at the foot of the bed and then lets himself fall onto the mattress and lies back against his friend’s pillows.

Iker turns slightly and frowns. Cristiano’s face is still lightly wet from all the crying he did. “How are you?” he asks with genuine concern.

“I’ll get over it.” Iker gives him a look like he should elaborate and Cristiano bits his lip and thinks before continuing. “Like it hurts—Christ, Iker, it hurts _a lot_ , but I guess it’ll be fine. I’m glad, sorta, that he’s happy. If he’d rather be with Fernando than me than there’s nothing I can do about it, and I might as well accept it.” He doesn’t sound like he means it though. “I’m just really mad at myself for announcing to the entire fucking cafeteria that I’m in love with him. I’m such an idiot. I’ve screwed myself.” He looks like he’s going to scream. He sucks in a deep breath and sighs. “School is gonna suck tomorrow, isn’t it?” He doesn’t wait for Iker to respond before continuing. “Where the hell am I supposed to sit during lunch?! If I see his face, and his pity—I’m assuming he feels at least some pity. Fuck, I’m gonna fucking puke.”

“Please don’t,” Iker says.

Cristiano pretends to gag and almost smiles as Iker immediately reaches for the garbage bin that sitting next to his bed-side table and practically hurls it at Cristiano, but the action isn’t quite enough to pull him out of his misery.

“I was joking,” he reveals, and Iker sighs like he should have known, but he isn’t mad. He doesn’t think he could bring himself to be mad at Cristiano, at least not for a while. He feels sorry for his friend, of course he does, but he doesn’t want him to realize exactly how bad he feels because then he’ll yell at him for pitying him, which will make Iker feel worse. It’s a sticky situation trying to make Cristiano feel better.

“Have you talked to him?” Iker asks. It’s definitely not the question that Cristiano wants to hear, but it’s necessary.

“No.”

“Don’t you think you should?”

Cristiano closes his eyes and tries to forget the world. He wants to teleport himself back to elementary school, back to the time when his father was still alive, back to when he thought of Sergio as just a friend, and when everyone was friends with everyone and there were no aggressive cliques that made the lunch room look like the one in _Mean Girls_.

“I know I should. But I don’t know what to say. Like he texted me right after I left saying that we needed to talk, but I ignored him. Like how are we supposed to talk about what happened? He’s not going to be able to talk me out of liking him.”

“Maybe he likes you back?”

Cristiano scoffs. “If he did, he would have said something.”

“It’s Sergio,” Iker starts. “Maybe he--”

“He’s got _Fernando_ , Iker. Stop trying to give me some sense of false hope that Sergio is going to return my feelings. I knew it would never work out. Just—stop.”

Iker settles back against the pillows like Cristiano and thinks. “I still think that you should call him,” he says.

Rolling his eyes, Cristiano reaches across Iker’s waist and grabs his phone that’s resting on the bed. “Fine. I’ll call him now.”

“Wait. Seriously?”

Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Cristiano thinks, _Well, I can’t go back now._ And then tells Iker, “Yeah. I might as well.”

He dials Sergio’s number and waits for him to pick up.

“Hello?” Sergio grumbles into the phone. Cristiano can hear the shower running in the background.

“Hey, it’s Cris.” He shoots Iker a panicked look and Iker gives him two thumbs up and smiles encouragingly. It doesn’t help Cristiano’s nerves one bit.

There’s a pause before Sergio answers, but he does answer much to Cristiano’s relief. “Oh, hey, Cris.” He sounds casual like he always does, like nothing has changed. Cristiano appreciates that about him.

“Uh…” Cristiano looks to Iker who mouths for him to saying something, anything. “I guess we should talk…” he says lamely.

“Yeah, um, I guess.”

There’s a long silence before either of them say anything. Cristiano can hear Sergio pulling out shampoo bottles and adjusting the water. Then nothing, only silence. They both start speaking at the same time and then freeze. Sergio laughs and then says, “You go first.”

Cristiano breathes deeply and then says, “Okay, so I’m sorry that I yelled at you in the middle of the lunch room, and I’m sorry if I’ve made anything awkward between you and Fernando, but you kept pushing me, and I didn’t mean to say what I did, but I guess now you know so… I don’t know what to say now.”

“Do you still want to be friends?” Sergio asks.

Heart leaping practically into the sky, Cristiano smiles like a maniac and gestures happily to Iker, who doesn’t understand what he’s trying to say, but takes it as good news. “Of course!” Cristiano says way too loudly. “I mean… Fuck. I just don’t want this to ruin our friendship.”

“Well, you knew I was in love with you last year and that didn’t ruin our friendship so why should this?” Sergio asks, and Cristiano feels like he’s been punched in the gut.

“What?” he asks; it’s barely a whisper. He’s surprised that Sergio manages to hear him because not even Iker does. The only think Iker sees is the tiny movement of Cristiano’s lips and the horrified look he’s got on his face.

“Yeah. I was like hopelessly in love with you last year.” Cristiano hears a loud noise on Sergio’s end. He must have dropped his shampoo. “I thought you knew?” Sergio’s voice is growing fainter. He’s beginning to retreat into himself. He could have sworn that Cristiano knew about his feelings from the previous year.

“I had no idea,” Cristiano chokes out.

“Oh.”

There’s another giant gap of silence. Iker waves his hand in front of Cristiano’s face. His expression is blank, and Iker’s pretty sure that he stopped breathing. After at least a full minute of silence, Iker grabs the phone and tells Sergio that Cristiano is comatose. There’s no response from Sergio so he assumes that Sergio is in the same exact state as Cristiano. He hangs up the phone and then shakes Cristiano’s shoulders and rolls his eyes when Cristiano doesn’t move an inch.

 _What a drama queen_ , Iker thinks.

He texts Xabi after a few minutes.

                        **Iker:** cris is no more.

                        **Xabi:** what?!

                        **Iker:** he’s frozen.

                        **Xabi:** i don’t understand…

                        **Iker:** he and sergio talked and apparently sergio liked him last year and now he’s kind of just sitting on my bed not                         moving and he’s kinda freaking me out

                        **Xabi:** OMG REALLY

                        **Iker:** yeah he’s literally frozen

                        **Xabi:** NO I MEAN ABOUT SERGIO LIKING CRIS

                        **Iker:** yeah… you didn’t know either???

                        **Xabi:** NO!!! no one tells me anything!!!

                        **Iker:** ditto.

~

Steven and Xabi are out getting dinner when Xabi gets the text messages from Iker. His jaw drops and Steven gives him a questioning look.

“There’s been a new development,” Xabi explains.

“Wut?” Steven asks through his mouth, which is filled to the brim with tortilla chips.

“Apparently, Sergio liked Cris last year.”

“Oh?”

“Yep,” but he doesn’t offer any more information so Steven assumes that there isn’t anything else to tell. They sit in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, eating their tacos and watching the people around them. Steven’s got his eyes on the front door, and Xabi’s admiring the way Steven’s collarbones look in his jumper. Suddenly, Steven turns back to Xabi with a smile on his face. He points to the front door, and Xabi watches as two of his friends, Cesc and Gerard, walk into the restaurant. He waves to the two boys, and they both smile and join him and Steven at their table.

Cesc slides into the booth and sits next to Steven, while Gerard takes the other side next to Xabi. Steven doesn’t know either boy too well, though he’s had classes with them for a few years. He’s pretty sure he had to show Cesc around the school when he moved from Barcelona, but besides that, they’d never really been in contact. When he sees Cesc walking around the school, he sees a kid with dark clothes and an _I-could-give-a-crap_ attitude. But that’s not what Steven sees when Cesc smiles and laughs and giggles—he actually _giggles_ , _a lot_. It’s cute, Steven decides. And as for Gerard, he’s just a giraffe. There are hardly any other words to describe him. Steven has to crane his neck just to be able to speak to him while he’s standing up, but as soon as he sits down Gerard looks like a normal human being. He seems nice enough, but his height just overwhelms Steven’s senses.

The only thing that Steven knows for sure about Cesc and Gerard is that they’re really close friends, and they’ve been close for their entire lives. Apparently, they grew up in Barcelona together, but Gerard’s parents had him move when he was in eighth grade. One year later, Cesc showed up in England and enrolled at the same high school as Gerard. Was it a coincidence that Cesc’s parents chose to move to this area of England? Or was it because of the boy’s friendship? Steven didn’t know for sure.

“So are you guys on a date or something?” Cesc asks with a wink. He slides closer to Steven and stares at him until Steven blushes and turns to Xabi for help.

 _I don’t have an answer_ , he thinks. How was he supposed to know if they were on a date?! He didn’t know if they were officially a couple or if them making out a few hours ago was just a onetime thing.

“’Cause we don’t want to interrupt if you are…” Gerard finishes.

“Uh…” both Steven and Xabi say. They look at each other, begging for the other to answer the question. Finally they both slowly say at the same time, “uhhhh... no?”

Cesc narrows his eyes. Then he kicks Gerard’s shin from under the table and gives him a look. Gerard immediately understands; that’s the great part of their friendship, they know exactly what the other is saying even if they don’t use words.

“We’re gonna go,” Gerard says.

“You don’t have to--” Xabi starts.

Gerard eyes Steven and Xabi and raises his eyebrows skeptically. “Yeah, we do.”

Once Gerard and Cesc are out of earshot, Steven leans in closer (Xabi does the same) and whispers, “Is this a date?”

Xabi shrugs. “Do you want it to be?”

“Do _you_?”

“I--” Xabi is interrupted by their waiter who stops by to take their empty plates away and ask if they want their check. They do. They let their discussion drop and decide to talk about it more in the car. Both aren’t into talking about their personal dating problems around other people, especially when Xabi’s friends and other kids from school (the taco place is a high school kid hot-spot) could be listening.

This time Xabi drove so they climb into his car and sit in the heated seats for a few minutes before speaking. It is cold, like really cold, and Xabi shivers more than he’d like to admit.

Xabi pulls out of the parking lot and they drive around aimlessly while they talk.

“So…” Steven starts. He glances over at Xabi who’s trying to keep both eyes on the road, but he looks like he wants to take a peek at Steven too. “Are we… Or are we just…”

Eyes still focused completely and solely on the road, Xabi doesn’t reply for a few seconds. But when he finally does, he says something that Steven hadn’t expected him too.

“How about this,” Xabi starts with a slight smirk. “If you do something super romantic for me then we’ll be dating.”

Steven blinks a few times and stares at Xabi’s expression, trying to see if the footballer is being serious or not. It appears as though he is, being serious, which makes Steven nervous.

“Something romantic?”

“ _Super_ romantic,” Xabi corrects.

“ _Super romantic?_ ” Steven asks, worry clear in his voice. He may really like Xabi, but that doesn’t mean he knows what the boy finds romantic…

“Yup,” Xabi replies, popping the p.

“Well, what do you find romantic?”

The question hangs in the air while Xabi considers. Should he make Steven suffer through trying to figure him out? Or should he help him?

He accelerates the car, speeding past a particularly slow driver. “I think a lot of things are romantic.” He rolls to a stop. The red light reflects off the damp road; it must have rained recently.

 “Anything specific?”

“Um…” The light turns green, but the car in front of Xabi doesn’t move. He honks his horn after growing impatient. Finally the car juts forward, and Xabi follows. “I like--” Suddenly the car swings to the right and the metal on the driver’s side of the car crumbles. The impact shakes the two boys and their heads whip to the side. The car that ran into Xabi’s pushes them across the highway intersection and into a sea of cars. The other drivers slam on their brakes in order to avoid collision.

A scream rips through Steven’s throat as the front bumper is torn apart by another car, and they go spinning into a third. After a few terrifying seconds, the car finally stops.

Car doors slam as people scramble to see if anyone's injured. Steven breathes heavily and then glances over at Xabi. He tries not to move his neck more than necessary because it hurts too much. Waves of pain cascade through his body and he begins to see black spots. They engulf his vision, but he blinks them away. From the corner of his eye he can see dark red blood flowing down Xabi’s forehead. He spots identical liquid on the driver’s side window. Xabi’s eyes are closed, but he's breathing.

Steven turns slowly to look at his own window when he hears someone knocking. The woman standing outside the car tries to tell him that the police have been called, but Steven’s eyelids fall closed and everything goes black before she can finish her sentence.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think :)


	4. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hospitals and mistakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, this is a lot later than i had intended... i've been busy with senior year stuff, graduating, and the world cup. i'll try to update more since school is over for me now. my goal is to get a new chapter up every week or so. 
> 
> anyway, i hope this is okay.....

In retrospect, hospitals shouldn’t be painted white. Usually, when people first wake up in a hospital, and all they see are white walls, they assume that they’re in heaven, that they’re dead. Of course, they aren’t actually dead, but the whiteness is quite deceiving.

As soon as Xabi wakes up, he blinks away the brightness. He has no clue how long he’s been out. All he knows is that the lights in the room are too bright and that he’s probably dead. A woman walks into the room. Unlike the walls, her scrubs are purple with little cats on them. She reminds Xabi that he’s in a hospital.

He blinks up at her and frowns. She tries to talk to him, but he doesn’t hear her. His head turns to the side, and his eyes fall shut, sending him back into his dreams. The last thing he sees before he goes under is a boy, about his age, lying in a bed next to his own. They make eye contact for just a moment before Xabi blacks out.

~

The next time Xabi regains consciousness, he opens his eyes to see the same boy from before, sitting up in his bed eating green colored Jell-O and watching a football match on the telly. It takes a few long seconds of processing for Xabi to remember that the boy is Steven.

Without moving too much from his position on the bed, Xabi examines Steven for injuries. His head is clean except for a pair of butterfly bandages. There are bruises on his arms and legs, but other than that, he appears to be fine. Xabi smiles, but stops when he is hit with an onslaught of pain. He tries to shift so he can clutch his aching head, but he freezes when his leg feels heavy. He sits up quickly, gasping at the vertigo he feels, but ignores it so that he can see his leg.

Xabi rips the sheets away to reveal his previously hidden leg. His foot is in a cast. He mumbles to himself every single profanity that he knows, and he doesn’t stop until he feels someone slide onto the bed and press themself into his side. Steven wraps his arm around Xabi’s waist and whispers to him that it’s going to be okay.

“I can’t play on this,” Xabi whispers. “How am I supposed to… I can’t…” He hangs his head miserably.

“It’ll heal, Xab,” Steven says, trying to be helpful.

“I’m going to miss the rest of the season.”

It’s true and for a minute Steven doesn’t know what to say. There isn’t anything he can to do help Xabi, to help him play, so he just lets him cry for a little bit.

“I know it won’t make you feel any better, but at least the injury isn't too bad...”

Xabi winces and clutches his head. “I… I know, but—ow—um… I just really wanted to play the entirety of my senior year.”

“I understand.”

Suddenly Xabi gasps and grabs frantically for Steven’s hands. “Are _you_ okay? Your big solo for band is in a couple of days, right? Can you still play? Stevie?”

“I’m fine.” Xabi raises his eyebrows like he doesn’t believe him. “I swear,” Steven insists. “I can play. I already asked the doctors.” Xabi slowly let’s himself fall back onto the bed, carefully resting his head so that he doesn’t agitate his already intense headache. “You’re the one I’m worried about.”

“I’ll be okay. I’ll get over the foot thing…”

“But what about your head? You’ve looked miserable ever since you woke up.”

“It’s not a concussion, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’ve already had one of those before… It’s just because I hit my head on the window, I think.”

“You sure?”

“Positive,” Xabi replies and he manages to smile.

Steven glances down at Xabi’s foot. “Oh!” he says. “I’ll be right back.” Steven slides off the bed and then runs out of the room. Xabi sits alone on the bed feeling utterly confused. Finally after a few minutes, Steven returns with a red colored marker. He sits down at the end of the bed near Xabi’s leg and uncaps the marker.

“You don’t mind if I sign this, right?”

“Course not,” Xabi says with a smile.

Glancing down at the cast and then back up at Xabi, Steven bites his lip and then sets to work. He carefully writes his first name in his neatest print, and then adds a heart around his name for good measure.

Steven then sets the marker on the bed side table and joins Xabi on his bed. He lets his eyes fall shut and dreams of red kits, hazel eyes, and Xabi’s smile. Xabi looks over at him and smiles the peaceful expression Steven wears in his sleep. He eventually follows suit and soon the two boys are sleeping peacefully, dreaming about the boy lying next to them.

~

As soon as Frank gets the text from Fernando, he grabs John and Pepe and drags them into his car. He doesn’t even explain what’s going on. They finally realize why they’re at the hospital once Pepe steals Frank’s phone and reads Fernando’s urgent message.

They run into the hospital room, and immediately wish they hadn’t. Steven and Xabi are lying on one hospital bed, both on their sides. It wouldn’t have been awkward if Steven didn’t have his face buried into Xabi’s neck. Sadly though, Pepe chose to burst through the door so there was no going back.

Steven breaks away from the awkward make-out/neck-kissing session and looks up at his friends, mortified.

“GET SOME,” Pepe shouts.

Flaming red, Steven tries to cover his blush by hiding in Xabi’s chest, but his friends only laugh at him. He feels Xabi’s ribcage shake with laughter so he pushes himself away and sits up in the bed and tries to look innocent.

“Well we came here to see how you’re doing…” John says. “But clearly you’re doing fine.”

Steven nods. “Yeah, I-I’m fine. Nothing serious.”

“That’s go--” Frank starts to say.

Suddenly the door opens with a loud slam to reveal a panicked looking Sergio Ramos and calm looking Fernando Torres. Before anyone can react, or even say hello, Sergio flings himself at Xabi and wraps his arms around him in a tight hug. Xabi looks around at the other guys in the room with wide eyes and they all laugh.

Finally, Sergio pulls away and Xabi can breathe again.

“Can I sign your cast?” Sergio asks, looking like a little kid.

“Sure,” Xabi replies as Steven passes him the box of markers he stole from the kid’s section of the hospital. Sergio choses the hot pink marker and then writes his name across the entirety of Xabi’s cast. He does, however, have the decency not to cover Steven’s name or Cristiano and Iker’s names (who visited earlier).

“Thanks, Serg,” Xabi says dryly. “I really appreciated that.”

“No problemo, babe. I knew you’d want everyone to know who really has your heart.”

~

Iker helps Xabi waddle into their English class. He carries Xabi’s books while the other boy struggles with his crutches. Ever since Xabi got home from the hospital, he’s looked forlorn and he’s been really moody. Iker knows how upset Xabi is about not being able to play in some of the games, but it’s been a whole weekend, he figured that the boy would have learned to cope.

“Stop pouting,” Iker says as he helps Xabi into his desk.

“I’m not pouting.”

Cesc, who’s sitting in the desk next to Xabi’s, picking at the loose frays of his denim shirt, scoffs. “Yes you are.”

“Whatever,” Xabi says, crossing his arms. “Are you excited for the game today?”

“Of course. Now I don’t have to worry about your shitty passes messing me up,” Cesc jokes. Xabi grabs on of his crutches and hits Cesc on the head with it when the teacher isn’t looking. “I was kidding!” the younger boy says. “You know we’re all upset that you can’t play.”

“I think Iker’s happy,” Xabi mumbles.

Iker looks horrified. “I am not! Why would you say that?”

“Well now you’re the captain.”

He rolls his eyes. “You know I’d rather have you on the field than wear the captain’s armband.” He almost looks hurt. No one ever implies that Iker isn’t of perfect character.

“So anyway….” Cesc says, trying to change the subject away from such a sensitive topic.

“Today is pizza day,” Iker supplies.

“Great observation, Iker,” Cesc says. “Who would have thought that today would be pizza day? Did you not realize that every single day they serve pizza or is your head so far up your ass that--”

“Why are you so fired up about pizza?” Iker asks, kind of horrified and turned on at the same time.

“Because I love pizza and I feel strongly about it,” Cesc says completely seriously.

Xabi and Iker exchange a look. “You’re such a freak,” Xabi says with a smile on his face.

Cesc doesn’t smile and looks down at his notebook and doodles a picture of a pizza slice, and then he rips the paper out and throws it at Iker’s face.

Of course he does it when the teacher is looking right at him, and she isn’t amused.

“Mr. Fabregas what are you doing?”

Cesc puts on his best _I-don’t-give-a-fuck-about-your-system_ look and stares the teacher right in the eyes as he says, “Because I love pizza.”

“I don’t see how that relates to you throwing a paper ball at Mr. Casillas,” she says.

“Oh, well that’s because you didn’t see what the note says,” Cesc says while he stands up and grabs the paper ball that’s resting on Iker’s desk. Then he sits on top of his new captain’s desk, careful to wiggle his butt in Iker’s face, and opens up the paper ball. “Here I’ll read it,” he says without a trace of remorse for what he’s doing.

“What the heck is wrong with you?” Iker whispers, but Cesc ignores him.

“It says, my dear teacher, ‘I love pizza, Iker. I love pizza like you don’t understand. And you need to understand or we can no longer be friends. Love, Cesc. P.S. Don’t you think our teacher’s ass is the greatest thing you’ve ever seen? I hope she--”

“Get out,” the teacher spits out.

Chucking the paper behind him, Cesc hops off the desk and strolls out of the room, winking at Xabi and Iker as he does so.

“He’s such an idiot,” Xabi mutters to Iker after the door closes behind their friend.

Iker chuckles and then quietly says to himself, “Yeah, but he’s a cute idiot.”

~

Before he started dating Sergio, Fernando never really attended any of the school’s football matches, but ever since he and Sergio decided to start going out, he attends them all.

It’s been almost two weeks since the Cristiano-incident in school. Every time Fernando and Cristiano walk by each other in the hallways, they avoid eye contact. He doesn’t want to feel weird about Cristiano but he does. At least, he’s afraid that Cristiano hates him. Fernando hates being hated. At first, Fernando thought things would be awkward between Cristiano and Sergio, but from what he can see from his own table, they’re fine. Cristiano looks pained half the time Sergio speaks, but they both laugh together, and from what he’s heard from the other students, they’re still good friends. Fernando has to give Cristiano some credit, though, because the thought of being in love with his friend, having them know, and them not loving him back—at least, he hopes that Sergio doesn’t love Cristiano back—sounds painful and miserable, and he knows that Cristiano must be the strongest guy in the world for still putting up with Sergio every single day, especially during football practice. Fernando can’t imagine being in love with Sergio and having to see him change into his kit every other day, but maybe Fernando just doesn’t have Cristiano’s self-control when it comes to Sergio…

Fernando used to feel awkward at the football matches, mainly because he isn’t the most popular guy in school, and he was afraid that Sergio was dating him out of charity, but he doesn’t feel that way anymore. After every game that they win, Sergio celebrates with his team and then runs over to Fernando and kisses him. It used to freak him out, but he welcomes the PDA after the first few times. Fernando no longer cares if people judge him or hate him because he’s with one of the most gorgeous guys in the school, and if people hate him for that, then that’s not his problem. All he cares about is how happy he is with Sergio. His friends, namely Frank and Pepe, told him that it wouldn’t work out, that Sergio was just some hot head who was using Fernando for sex, and maybe he’s getting ahead of himself—after all, they’ve only been dating for three weeks—but something about Sergio just feels different.

Of course, that’s what Fernando says about every guy, and sadly his brain hasn’t connected the dots yet. Fernando may be convinced that he and Sergio are invincible, but that doesn’t mean they are.

After the match ends, like clockwork, Sergio runs over to the bleachers, where Fernando is sitting. They smile at each other, and Fernando congratulates him on the great game. They beat the visiting team 1-0. The only goal, of course, came from Cristiano.

Sergio stays sitting on the bleachers with Fernando for a few minutes before his coach yells at him from the field.

“I’ll see you,” Sergio says quietly. Then he kisses Fernando quickly and runs back to his team. From the bleachers, Fernando can see Iker laughing at him and slapping Sergio on the back. Then his eyes find Cristiano, who looks like he’s been stabbed in the gut. Part of Fernando wants to feel bad, but he can’t bring himself to do it. It isn’t his job to keep everyone happy.

The post-game talk lasts for a few more minutes before Coach Mourihno dismisses the boys. They grab all their stuff and then head off to the showers. Fernando looks around and finds Xabi sitting with Steven on the other side of the bleachers. He’d wanted to sit with Steven, but he felt awkward being a third wheel, so he settled for sitting alone. It isn’t like he minds being alone. Sometimes he even prefers it.

“Hey guys,” Fernando says.

“Fer!” Xabi greets happily, almost too happily. He’s never call him ‘Fer’ before. It isn’t like it bothers Fernando, but it’s just weird for him to hear. Fernando suspects that Xabi is under the influence of some prescription medication. Xabi braces himself on Steven’s shoulder as he stands up and hobbles over to where his crutches are resting. Fernando follows Steven and Xabi off the bleachers, even offering to help Xabi crutch down the stairs. Once they’re on the ground and walking towards the parking lot, he parts from the couple.

“I’m gonna go find Sergio,” he says.

Xabi frowns. “He didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, it’s just… He told me that he and Cristiano had plans for tonight.” Xabi gives him a sympathetic look like he’s a doctor who doesn’t want to tell someone that they’ve got cancer or something. Fernando frowns; he hates sympathy.

“That’s fine. I’ll just see if Pepe is around.” He turns to leave but stops when Steven calls out.

“You could hang out with us,” Steven suggests.

Fernando waves him off. “Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t really want to intrude.”

“You’re not intruding,” Xabi says.

Wincing, Fernando bites his lips. “I’d feel awkward if it were just the three of us…”

“Why? We’re all friends…” Steven says.

“Yeah, but you guys are dating,” Fernando mumbles.

“Not officially,” Xabi remarks with a smirk.

Steven gives him a look and then turns back to Fernando. “True. Technically not dating.”

“Alright fine, but I’m gonna need someone to distract me from thinking about my boyfriend hanging out with someone who is in love with him,” Fernando says bitterly.

Xabi laughs awkwardly and then continues on crutching to Steven’s car. He turns to Fernando before getting inside. “Meet us at my house. My parents are out of town,” he says with a wink.

Fernando hurries into his own car and follows Steven carefully to Xabi’s house because he’s never been there before. Once he arrives, he feels incredibly insignificant. He knew that the Alonso's were rich, but he didn’t think his house would be so big.

“Holy crap, Xabi,” Fernando says once he gets out of his car and walks with his two friends across the front lawn. “This is crazy. You’ve got to have like one hundred rooms.”

Blushing, Xabi laughs quietly. “No, not that many…”

The trio settles into Xabi’s kitchen and Xabi crutches around his house, finding all the snacks and alcohol his parents possess. After talking for a little bit with Steven and Fernando, they all (mostly, Xabi) agree that the best way for Fernando to stop feeling weird about Sergio and Cristiano hanging out is to get drunk.

“Really, the solution is to learn to trust Sergio more,” Xabi says, “But for now let’s just invite some more people over, throw a massive party, and get you hammered.”

“Wow,” Steven whistles. “Who would have thought that Xabier Alonso was a partier. I thought straight A students only cared about grades and not fun.”

Xabi scoffs. “I’ll have you know, Steven, that I throw a mean party, and I still always manage to get my homework done. I’m like the perfect teenager.”

Steven laughs a little to himself. “I think you’re only saying this because you’re a little loopy from the pain medication you’re tak--”

“Ha,” Xabi says. “Too late!” He holds up his phone, which displays a text message that he sent to every teenager on his contact list. It reads, “PARTY TONIGHT @ my house!”

“You idiot,” Steven mumbles.

Fernando grabs the phone out of Steven’s hand and mumbles a curse when he sees what Xabi wrote. “We’re so screwed,” he says.

~

The minute people start arriving, Steven panics. _No_ , he thinks. _I will not let my life turn into some ridiculous, low-budget teen comedy._ “Everyone leave!” he shouts.

Of course, because Steven’s life is like a ridiculous, low-budget teen comedy, no one listens. People stroll through the front door, carrying their beer and assorted alcoholic beverages. Xabi is leaning up against a wall, counting people as they walk by. Within ten minutes his house is filled with rambunctious teenagers. He hobbles over to Steven, sighing.

“There are over one hundred people here. One hundred.”

“It’s your own fault,” Fernando says from across the room.

“Fuck off,” Xabi replies.

“Hey now,” a voice says. Xabi turns to see Sergio and Cristiano standing by the door; they’re both sipping a beer. “Don’t be rude.”

“What are you doing here?” Xabi asks. “I thought you had plans…”

“We got your text and figured we’d stop by,” Cristiano says quietly, avoiding eye contact with Fernando by looking around the room.

After Xabi dismisses them both with a slight wave, Sergio’s face changes, like he’s remembered something. He powers across the foyer and grabs Xabi’s arm. “Can we talk?”

Looking confused, Xabi frowns. “Is this about what I said to Fernando? ‘Cause that was just--”

“No! I just—please? Can we talk in private?”

“Sure…” Xabi concedes. He grabs his crutches and leads Sergio into a spare bedroom. “What’s up?”

Sergio closes the door behind him and sighs deeply. “I’m freaking out.” He looks uncharacteristically nervous. “Things are awkward. I…”

“What do you mean?”

“With Cris. I thought if we hung out things would go back to normal, but…”

“It’s okay,” Xabi insists. “It’s fine if him liking you makes hanging out awkward--”

“Actually,” Sergio says looking down guiltily. “I meant things are awkward because… I have—uh, these feelings are resurfacing.” Immediately Sergio feels a pillow slam into his face; and another before he has time to react. “What was that for?!”

“You’re an idiot!” Xabi whisper-yells. “I like Fernando—you like Fernando. Fernando likes you! Don’t screw this up.”

“But what about Cris?!”

“Well--”

“I think I still--”

“Don’t.”

“Love him. And he said he--”

“You bastard.”

“Why is this such a big deal to you?”

“We don’t need any more drama. Ugh!”

“Screw you!” Sergio’s face grows red. “This drama is my life! And I have to figure things out. Why can’t you just be supportive?!”

“I’m trying--”

“No. You’re not.”

“Serg--”

“Just forget it.”

Sergio runs away and Xabi hobbles after him shouting “Wait!” But Sergio ignores him as he makes his through the crowded hallway. He grabs a red cup and downs all the contents. He coughs once the straight vodka hits his throat. Xabi catches up to him in time for Sergio to turn around, arms out, and accidentally whack him in the face.

Off-balance from being on crutches, Xabi falls backwards into the arms of some boy who was luckily walking by. The boy steadies Xabi back onto his good foot and crutches.

“Whoa,” Arbeloa says. “You okay?”

Xabi holds the sore spot on his jaw where Sergio smacked him. “I’ll be fine.” He mumbles a quick thank you before turning away to find Sergio. He finds Iker first.

“Nice party?” Iker says, but it’s more like a question.

“It was an impulse decision,” Xabi admits. He looks around the room, searching. He only finds that people have destroyed his dining room and are currently in the process of wrecking his second living room. “Have you seen Sergio?” he asks distractedly.

“Yeah. He was sitting with Fernando and a bottle of Grey Goose.” Iker frowns. “Should I be concerned? You look worried.” He sounds exactly like a captain should, concerned and caring, and for a moment Xabi forgets about Sergio and determines that out of everyone, Iker deserves to be the captain—even more than Xabi.

Xabi sighs and runs his hand through his short hair. He glances over at Pepe Reina who is dancing on a table, in the next room over, and trying to get David Luiz to join him. _This party is going to kill me_ , he thinks.

“It’s nothing,” Xabi says finally.

Iker frowns but lets it go. A few seconds later, he is whisked away by Cesc who pulls him onto the make-shift dance floor and jokingly dances with him. Iker’s face is flushed because Cesc is a mere child and he shouldn’t be dancing like he is. Their hips bump together and Iker nearly sprints away but Cesc grabs his wrists and holds him in place. Xabi sees him whisper in Iker’s ear, take another swig of his drink, and offer Iker some.

“Again,” Xabi says, this time out loud. “This party is going to kill me.”

He suddenly feels a pair of arms snake around his waist. “What’s going to kill you?” a slightly slurred voice murmurs.

“This party,” Xabi complains.

Steven mumbles sympathetically and places a kiss on the back of Xabi’s neck. “It’ll be fine,” he affectionately leans into Xabi, but Xabi breaks out of his grip.

“How much have you had to drink?” he asks, meaning for it to be a joke.

“I’m just trying to comfort my boyfriend,” Steven says lazily. He’s definitely buzzed, but it isn’t Steven’s alcohol intake that sends chills down Xabi’s spine.

“Boyfriend?” he asks with a smirk. “Aren’t you going to do something romantic before you start calling me that?”

Abruptly Steven goes stiff. “Why do you keep pushing this romantic thing?”

“I’m not. I was just--”

But Steven doesn’t listen. He face turns pink and his eyes look like he is angry. Xabi has never seen him angry before. “Is this going to be like some cliché prank? Are you pretending to like me just so you can embarrass me later?” he slurs the words slightly. Xabi knows that he shouldn’t listen to Steven; he’s drunk and he probably doesn’t mean what he’s saying, but his words are said so harshly that Xabi can’t help but respond.

“Excuse me?!” Xabi spits out. “Do you honestly think I’d do that?”

“I don’t know,” Steven replies lamely.

“Well, fuck you.” And he crutches away angrily, if that’s even possible.

~

A few hours into the party, Cristiano figures it’s time to leave. He walks around the house, trying to find Sergio so he can tell him that he’s going to get going. He passes Xabi sulking on the couch, Iker and Cesc grinding on the dance floor— _Still?_ he thinks. Arbeloa and a few other boys from the football team are playing drunken billiards and failing immensely. Steven is drinking away with Pepe and David Luiz, and Cristiano almost smiles, but then one of them falls to the floor and spills some of his drink on Cristiano’s shoes. He hurriedly leaves the room and finally finds Sergio in the hallway near Xabi’s kitchen. He and Fernando are slumped against the wall, sipping from their cups. Fernando appears to be sleeping, and Sergio is still going.

The second Sergio sees Cristiano, he stands up, nearly falls over, but manages to steady himself. He’s got this huge smile on his face that makes Cristiano’s heart skip a beat. His hair is pointed every which way and he’s obviously drunk out of his mind, but there’s just something about it that Cristiano can’t help but love.

“Heyyy,” Sergio slurs. Before Cristiano can respond, Sergio jerks forward, and to keep himself from falling over, he grabs Cristiano’s arm. Once he’s sure that he’s capable of standing on his own, Sergio lets go, but now his face is closer to Cristiano’s and Cristiano isn’t sure if he can take it. But then, Sergio takes matters into his own hands and leans in closer, just slightly and just enough so that their lips are millimeters from touching. He makes eye-contact with Cristiano, who is practically dying with anticipation.

“I really want to kiss you,” Sergio says.

“What about Fernando?” Cristiano asks, well aware that he’s ruining the moment for himself.

Sergio faulters and looks down at Fernando who is still sleeping. He pokes his foot, but the boy doesn’t wake up.

“Surely Xabi’s got one empty room,” Sergio mummers in Cristiano’s ear. Then he kisses him, and for a moment Cristiano forgets how wrong it is, but as soon as Sergio's hands find his sides he snaps out of it.

"No," Cristiano says. "You're drunk." He gently guides Sergio back down to the floor next to Fernando. Sergio looks hurt, and Cristiano nearly changes his mind, but he stands firm. "I'll see you later."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you thought and if there were any horrible grammar/spelling mistakes... also, if any of you guys wanna talk world cup my tumblr is jamesrodrguez


	5. Liar Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xabi's hips don't lie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lookie a new chapter within a week! Are you proud of me?
> 
> Sorry it's not as long as I wanted it to be... I just really really wanted to update tonight.
> 
> Lastly: you should listen to "bailando" by enrique iglesias ;)

“This party is a fucking mess,” Xabi complains to his drink. He doesn’t get a response so he downs the rest of the contents.

He turns lazily to his right when he feels someone sit down next to him. He’s fully prepared to start yelling about how Stevie needs to apologize, but then he sees that Stevie isn’t sitting next to him. It’s Alvaro, instead.

“Rough night?” the boy asks.

Xabi laughs into his cup, and looks sadly at the empty plastic container.

“Yeah, that’s how parties usual go, for me at least,” Alvaro says, though it’s mostly to himself.

Looking at him, probably really looking at him for the first time, Xabi sighs in understanding. He doesn’t usually attend parties, but when he does, they always go massively wrong. He frowns at Alvaro’s expression. They’ve been friends for the better part of four years, being on the same football team and all, and in those four years, Xabi has never seen Alvaro look sad. Not once. And for some reason, maybe it’s just his drunken state or maybe it’s because they’re friends, Xabi feels the sudden urge to destroy anyone who might have upset Alvaro.

“So what happened between you and Gerrard? I saw your fight…” Alvaro asks.

“He’s an arse,” Xabi says, and for a minute he doesn’t bother explaining, but then he remembers the fight more clearly and is suddenly really angry. “I jokingly told him that he has to do something romantic for me, otherwise I won’t be his boyfriend, and then today he said that he wouldn’t do it because he reckons that I’m only asking him to do it as some sort of prank. Can you fucking believe that? He thinks I’m pranking him. He actually thought that I was lying about liking him because I wanted to embarrass him in some sort of cliche high school prank.”

Alvaro doesn’t say anything.

“And I wasn’t pranking him… I don’t know why I said he had to do that… I just-I don’t know. But I wasn’t trying to embarrass him.”

There’s a silence between them that lasts for a few minutes. It isn’t awkward, considering there’s so much going around them. Xabi leans into Alvaro’s side and smiles at the contact. Alvaro is warm, much warmer than Stevie.

“He doesn’t sound like he’s worth it,” Alvaro says quietly, with a slight slur to his voice.

“Worth what?”

“Worth your time. You shouldn’t be with someone who doesn’t trust you,” he says honestly.

There’s a twinkle in Xabi’s eye. “Then who should I be with?”

“Oh, uh…” Alvaro looks nervously at Xabi. “I don’t—”

Xabi tosses aside his empty cup and closes in the distance between him and Alvaro. He glances at Alvaro’s eyes, which look alarmed but not unpleased, and then moves in. He presses his lips softly to Alvaro’s and waits for a response—he doesn’t have to wait long. Alvaro and him kiss for several minutes and receive several looks in the process. “Is that Xabi making out with Arbeloa?” Iker asks Cesc, who is too busy focusing on dancing and Iker’s butt to answer.

~

Frank and John lock themselves in one of the spare bedrooms and disappear from the rest of the party until they emerge the next morning; Cesc and Iker dance for hours until they both collapse, exhausted, onto the couch. Steven sits with his back against the wall next to Fernando, who is still asleep. He pretends to be asleep when Xabi and Alvaro pass by, and then opens his eyes to watch them as they make their way to Xabi’s bedroom upstairs. At first, Steven is jealous, and then he remembers that he’s supposed to be angry with Xabi. But he just can’t help but not be angry with him. He’d assumed Xabi’s intentions weren’t pure. It had been his fault. Xabi had been joking, and he’d assumed the worst. For some reason, every time people got close to him, he pushed them away. Did he mean to? Of course not, but it was just something that he couldn’t control.

“What’s with you?” Pepe asks as he slides to the ground next to Steven. “You look depressed.”

“I fucked things up with Xabi.”

“You’re both drunk. Trust me, neither of you are going to remember this tomorrow morning.”

Usually Steven would laugh at that, but instead he sighs sadly. “It’s different. I did something stupid. I accused him of using me for some prank. And now… Now Xabi’s off sleeping with Alvaro.”

“Arbeloa?”

“Yeah.”

“At least he’s not sleeping with the freshman Morata…”

“What difference would it make?” Steven asks angrily.

“Well, if he chose a freshman over fellow senior then that would be insulting.”

Steven bangs his head against the wall. “You’re not helping.”

“Just go apologize, you big baby,” Pepe says, finally before standing up and walking away.

Steven scoffs. “I can’t just walk in and apologize! They could be in the middle of doing it!”

“Wouldn’t you want to at least try? That way you could stop them from doing it?” Pepe calls over his shoulder.

He crosses his arms, like a child, and falls back against the wall. Fernando stirs and opens his eyes hazily.

“What was with all the noise?” he asks.

“Nothing, go back to sleep.”

~

Xabi wakes up to a face-full of pillow. He rolls over, feels the bed dip, and knows there’s someone laying next to him. He’s just about to great said person with a kiss (assuming it’s Steven because his brain has temporarily forgotten the previous night), but he stops when he sees that it’s Alvaro, not Steven, lying next to him.

The other boy is already awake and smiles sadly when he sees the confusion in Xabi’s eyes.

“Did we….?” Xabi asks. He vaguely remembers crawling into bed with Alvaro, yelling at Steven, and drinking, lots of drinking.

“No.”

“Oh.” He’s not disappointed. Drunkenly sleeping with Alvaro would have been a mistake, but that doesn’t explain why they’re in bed together, and why they’re both practically naked. “Then what happened?” he sits up, letting the covers fall to his waist, and runs a hand through his messy hair.

“Well I remember following you up here, and then we made out for a while, and you kept taking off our clothes, and I kept telling you to slow down, and then you fell asleep on me.”

Covering his face in with his hands, Xabi signed. “Oh god, that’s so embarrassing.”

“I hope this doesn’t make things awkward,” Alvaro says. “I—”

“It won’t. We were both drunk.”

“Okay, good.” Then he frowns. “I also hope that this doesn’t effect you and Ste—”

“He and I are done, remember? He doesn’t trust me.”

“Right... But I don’t think that’s true… I think you both know that he didn’t mean—”

“Can we not talk about this?” Xabi asks. He doesn’t want to be annoyed with Alvaro, mainly because he secretly knows that he’s right. Steven was drunk, maybe he didn’t mean what he was saying, but that really isn’t up for Xabi to decide. If Steven apologizes maybe he’ll forgive him, but until then, it really doesn’t matter what Alvaro or Xabi think about their fight.

“Yeah, of course,” Alvaro replies. “I better go. It’s nearly noon.”

“Right. I’ll see ya?”

Alvaro smiles and then awkwardly hugs Xabi goodbye. “See you at school.” He turns to leave, but then stops himself at the door. “Try to talk to Stevie,” he says, leaving quickly before Xabi can reply.

~

School is awkward for everyone. Sergio avoids Fernando, Fernando doesn’t understand why Sergio is avoiding him, Cristiano wants to hide in a corner and never come out, Iker blushes every time Cesc looks at him, and Cesc… Cesc doesn’t understand why suddenly things are weird between him and Iker. They danced. Who cares? They were drunk. Being drunk is a perfectly reasonable excuse for grinding on a friend.

At least that’s what Cesc thinks. Iker doesn’t exactly share that philosophy.

“Should we talk about what happened at the party?” Iker asks, whispering in the back of their math classroom. Normally Cesc sits by himself and tries to cause as much trouble as possible without actually getting thrown out of class (unless he wants to), but Iker is sitting with him today. Sergio and Xabi are sitting in their regular seats in the front of the classroom, probably chatting about their drunken adventures at Xabi’s house.

Cesc ignores Iker for as long as he can, but after only two minutes, he breaks when Iker refuses to stop poking him with his pencil.

“And you people call me immature,” Cesc mutters.

“We should talk,” Iker insists.

“No, we should not. There’s nothing to talk about. Nothing happened.”

Iker’s quiet for the rest of the class. He almost looks sad. Cesc almost smiles. And then he suddenly doesn’t feel like being in class anymore. He gets that feeling a lot. He’s almost certain that he gets the feeling every time he thinks about his parents. The need to annoy them is strong.

“Did anyone get the answer to question number four?” the teachers asks.

Cesc raises his hand with a smirk. Iker glances over at him and frowns. He knows that Cesc didn’t do the homework. He knows instantly what he’s about to do. “Don’t be an idiot,” he whispers.

And then the feeling is gone. Cesc’s eyes find Iker’s and everything stops. The teacher taps her foot impatiently. “Yes, Mr. Fabregas? You have the answer?”

Not letting his eyes leave Iker’s, Cesc slowly lowers his hand and shakes his head. “No, I don’t. Sorry.”

Iker smiles. Cesc smiles. _Fuck_ , Cesc thinks.

~

He walks into the office, looks down at his shoes, takes a deep breath, grabs the cross hanging around his neck, and steps up to the secretary’s desk.

“Can I help you?” the woman behind the computer asks, her eyes not leaving the screen. For a second he doesn’t know what to say, and then she glances over at him, eyes him up and down, and then clicks her tongue in recognition. “You must be our newest student.”

He nods.

The woman turns around and grabs a large folder of papers. He notices that his name is written on the front cover. She rummages through her desk, signs some papers, makes a quick call to the principal, and then turns back to him.

“Here’s your schedule. The days almost over, but you can feel free to attend the remaining classes.”

“I’m sorry about being late. My family just flew in from Milan last night.”

“Oh how nice,” the woman smiles. It appears genuine. “Welcome to the Academy. I’m sure you’ll love it here, Mr. Kaka.”

Ricky smiles, his nerves finally gone, and thanks her for her kindness before hurrying off to his first class.

~

Cristiano sits moodily in the back of the classroom, trying not to think about how annoyed he is, while simultaneously thinking about how annoyed he is, and thereby making himself even more annoyed. He scribbles random shapes in his notebook, not paying attention to the lecture.

The door opens. He doesn’t look up because he doesn’t care. There’s a voice he doesn’t recognize. He still doesn’t look up because he insists that he doesn’t care. He hears the teacher say “new student” and then he looks up. Not because he cares of course. Merely because he’s slightly curious. Because he needs new meat to pick on.

The boy standing in the front of the classroom, holding something at his neck, has dark brown hair, a shy smile, and a backpack that can only make Cristiano label him as a dork.

And of course, the dork sits near him.

It isn’t his fault though. There aren’t any seats left anyway, but Cristiano still feels angry when the new kid pulls out his notebook and pencils from his backpack and begins taking notes like he actually cares. And to see someone give a shit about school makes Cristiano so irrationally angry that he has to hold himself back from knocking the kid’s books off his desk.

Cristiano looks back down at his scribbles and continues what he would call a masterpiece, but he freezes when he hears the new kid say something to him. He looks up, shooting daggers at the boy. “What?”

“Do you have the notes from the beginning of class?” He has a cross around his neck, Cristiano notices. He has a fucking cross on a fucking necklace. He’s a religious nut. Cristiano internally shakes his head.

“What’s your name?”

“Ricardo Kaka, but everyone calls me Ricky,” the boy says almost proudly.

“Well, Ricky,” Cristiano spits his name out like an insult. “I don’t have the fucking notes. I didn’t feel like taking fucking notes today so leave me the fuck alone.”

Ricky’s eyes go wide and he sputters out a “thanks anyway” before turning back around in his chair and quickly writing down every word the teacher says. He could have sworn that the secretary had said he’d like it at the Academy. She apparently doesn’t know about the boy in the back of his math class.

~

“Do you think Sergio was avoiding me today?” Fernando asks.

“Do you think Xabi was avoiding me?” Steven counters.

“Well, yeah. You destroyed things with him.”

“Gee thanks, Fer.”

“Anytime.”

Steven steers the car into the school’s parking lot, swinging it into a random parking spot. He and Fernando sit in silence for a little while, both boys thinking about the other boys in their lives.

“And yes, I do,” Steven finally says.

“You do what?” Fernando absentmindedly picks at his nails.

“I do think Sergio was avoiding you.”

“Why? You said before at lunch that I was just being paranoid.”

“Yeah, I lied. That’s what friends do. Anyway… I don’t know how to explain this. I guess he just wouldn’t look at you. And that time you tried to talk to him and he practically sprinted away. There’s no way that Sergio Ramos wanted to get to Biology that quickly.”

“We were supposed to go watch the band concert together, but he’s probably not going to show up based on his behavior today. Do you think I did something weird while we were all drunk?”

Steven rolls his eyes and slides out of the car, Fernando quickly following suit. They walk into the school, still talking about Sergio’s odd behavior, until they realize that—speak of the devil—he’s already there. Standing by ticket table, holding up two tickets. He smiles at Fernando who says a quick good luck and goodbye to Steven before hesitantly following Sergio into the auditorium.

For the first time in a while, Steven is nervous. It’s his night. His solo night. He’s never had a solo before. He says hello to some of his fellow “bandies” and is just about to follow them to the band room for some last minute practicing when he sees a familiar face.

Xabi stands with Iker on the line for tickets. He catches Steven’s eyes for a split second before quickly looking away. Then he looks back up, shyly this time, as if he has something to be shy about. As if it were his fault that they were no longer on speaking terms. Steven tries to wave, but he stops mid motion when Iker pulls Xabi towards the auditorium. Steven brings his hand into his hair in one fluid act and prays that no one saw him.

~

The concert goes well. Fantastic even. Steven’s clarinet solo is beautiful. He doesn’t miss a single note and every beat is perfectly timed. The audience cheers for what feels like six years and Steven cannot believe that the performance went so smoothly.

He’s greeted by his friends as soon as his band director lets him leave. They all meet by the front lobby and Steven is unashamed to admit that he’s a bit disappointed to see that Xabi is not in the group.

“Hi,” he says somewhat sadly.

“THAT WAS AWESOME,” Fernando practically screams.

“Who knew you were so talented,” Pepe jokes, and Sergio nods like he’s in on the joke.

Iker smiles at Steven and tells him he did a great job. He also mentions that Xabi thought so too, but had to leave early because of a “family thing”. Steven may be naïve but he knows that’s code for “I didn’t want to see you face, but I felt like I had to attend this concert because I promised you before we stopped talking and because I’m still waiting for you to apologize for being an asshole and tell me that you didn’t mean what you said.”

~

Sergio and Fernando are back at Fernando’s house after the concert. The original plan was to go to Sergio’s house, but after he decided that he needed to tell Fernando about what happened at the party, he suggested they go to Fernando’s incase he needs to leave. Or in case Fernando kicks him out. He thinks it’s considerate, not making Fernando be the one who has to storm away.

And his plan had been to _immediately_ tell Fernando what had happened between him and Cristiano, but as soon as they walk through the front door, Fernando starts kissing him, and he isn’t about to say no to that. And besides… he kind of forgets about his plan once Fernando starts stripping.

Fernando leds him up to his bedroom, and throwing his shirt across the room and pushing Sergio up against his bed. He tugs at Sergio’s zipper, and that’s the exact moment that Sergio remembers what he was supposed to tell Fernando about, but then Fernando pulls off his pants and suddenly Sergio’s mind goes fuzzy. He’s just a teenage boy, he can’t exactly help it. Fernando reaches for his boxers, er, for what’s underneath the boxers and—

“Wait!” Sergio says, practically leaping away from a very confused Fernando.

“Okay…” he says, definitely not trying to hide the disappointment.

“I need to tell you something.”

Fernando nods, and Sergio rubs his own face once.

“At the party… We were all drunk, and then you were passed out on the floor, and then Cris came to talk to me.” Fernando frowns. “And I… I kissed him.” Sergio tries not to look at Fernando, but he can see in his peripheral that his boyfriend is angry. “And we kissed, but...he--I told him we couldn’t. And I stopped it… I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, Nando.”

It’s quiet for a moment, and then Fernando asks, “You told him you couldn’t?”

He hesitates. Technically Cristiano is one who shut it down... “Yes.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Sergio is confused. Does that mean Fernando doesn’t hate him? Or does it mean that he is too upset to actually say something.

And then, unexpectedly, Fernando is kissing him again. And Sergio is… confused. Massively confused. He pulls away.

“You just kissed me,” he says dumbly.

“Yes I did. Good observation.” And then Fernando tries to kiss him again.

“I don’t understand… You should be slapping me or breaking up with me or at the very least kicking me out. You aren’t mad at me?”

Fernando shrugs. “Of course I’m mad. Of course I’m jealous that you guys kissed, but like you said, you were drunk and he was drunk, and I believe you when you say that you ended it. So I’ve decided to forgive and forget."

He nods. “Okay…”

This time when Fernando kisses him, he kisses back and they both fall back against the bed. And this time when Fernando reaches for Sergio’s boxers, he doesn’t stop him.

~

“Have you ever heard this song before?” Xabi asks.

“No… I don’t really listen to spanish music.”

“But it’s Enrique Iglesias!” Xabi says animatedly. “How could you not know this song?!”

Arbeloa shrugs. “I'm sorry?”

“Turn it up so I can educate you,” Xabi replies with a smirk.

Arbeloa reaches over to the speakers on Xabi’s desk and turns the dial, blasting Bailando throughout the room.

 _Yo te miro y se me corta la respiración_  
_Cuando tú me miras se me sube el corazón_  
_(Me palpita lento el corazón)_  
_Y en un silencio tu mirada dice mil palabras_  
_La noche en la que te suplico que no salga el sol_

Xabi’s body sways with the beat, closing his eyes. And even though he only thinks of Xabi as a friend, Arbeloa cannot deny that it’s kind of hot.

 _(Bailando, bailando, bailando, bailando)_  
_Tu cuerpo y el mío llenando el vacío_  
_Subiendo y bajando (subiendo y bajando)_  
_(Bailando, bailando, bailando, bailando)_  
_Ese fuego por dentro me va enloqueciendo_  
_Me va saturando_

His hips follow the music and he starts dancing in the middle of the room. Arbeloa pulls out his phone and laughs as he records Xabi bailando.

“ _Bailar conmigo_ , Alvaro!”

“What?”

“Dance with me, stupid!”

“Nooo.”

“If you’re not going to dance, you can’t film,” Xabi replies jokingly as he tackles Alvaro to the ground, reaching for his phone.

They roll around on the floor of Xabi’s room, Xabi trying to grab the phone, and Alvaro trying to post the video on Instagram before Xabi can stop him. And unfortunately for Xabi, Alvaro wins the fight and gets the video up.

“Take it down!” Xabi complains.

“No way!”

“Oh come on, the caption is ‘sexy dancing with the bae’. You’re ridiculous!”

“I only did it to help you,” Alvaro says.

Xabi laughs and looks at him like he’s crazy. “How would posting a dumb video of me help me out? I feel like it’s more embarrassing than helpful.”

Rolling his eyes, Alvaro slides over to where Xabi is sitting on the ground and shows him his phone. “See how many likes it has?”

“Yeah, so?”

“So… Stevie is following me. Maybe he’ll see it and get jealous.”

“You posted it to make Stevie jealous?” Xabi deadpans.

“Yeah.”

Then suddenly Xabi’s face lights up. “Al, you’re a genius!” He reaches over and kisses his cheek enthusiastically.

Alvaro shrugs like it isn’t a big deal. “I figured that he might need some inspiration to get off his ass and apologize. Has he talked to you since the party?”

Xabi frowns and pulls out his phone. “Yeah, he texted me yesterday after the concert saying that he was really sorry about what he said at the party, but I ignored it because I’d rather he apologized in person. You know? Like it’s pretty cowardly to do it through a text message.”

“I guess…” Alvaro frowns. “I mean, did you give him a chance to apologize in person?”

Looking away, Xabi sighs. “No… But it’s not my responsibility to make apologizing easier for him. He’s the one who fucked up. Not me.”

~

 **Fernando:** did you and xabi talk?

 **Alvaro:** yepp

 **Fernando:** and?

 **Alvaro:** i think it’s working

 **Fernando:** great :)

 **Alvaro:** did stevie see the video?

 **Fernando:** i just sent him a text tellin him to go watch it

 **Alvaro:** i think he’ll like it

 **Fernando:** dude i liked it

 **Fernando:** xabii is hottt

 **Fernando:** forget i said that

 **Alvaro:** dont worry i wont tell sergio

 **Fernando:** thnks

 **Fernando:** also, have you got the french hw?

~

At first when Stevie gets Fernando’s message saying “omg dude check out the vid on arbeloa’s insta” he ignores it. Mainly because he and Arbeloa aren’t really friends. Sure they have some classes together, but that doesn’t really make them friends…

In the end, he gives in. But only because Fernando sends him a follow up message that says “DID YOU WATCH YET???!” And then he knows the video must be good.

As soon as he sees the thumbnail for the video, his throat goes dry. It's Xabi. And then when he watches the actual video, he can feel his whole body heating up. Xabi is dancing. Dancing. _Bailando_. He watches it several times. Feeling weird at first, but he quickly forgets the feeling after every view. Xabi’s hips are mesmerizing.

“Holy shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first spain, now bosnia-herzegovina?? someone needs to comfort me :(


	6. *Kill Bill Sirens*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everyone grabs each others faces when they kiss apparently??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i make a reference to a viral youtube video in this... please don't watch it. im scarred for life... unless you're into that?? but seriously its really fucked up

“So I take it you saw the video,” Fernando says. He’s lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, phone in hand. Steven is on the other line. Sergio is next to him, and he isn’t exactly letting Fernando talk on the phone in peace.

“Oh my god yes I saw the video. I’m going to kill Alvaro,” Steven replies.

“Why?”

“Because…”

“Because you fucked up and now he’s dating Xabi?”

Sergio scrunches his brow and mumbles into Fernando’s side. “They aren’t dating. They’re just friends…”

“Stevie doesn’t need to know that,” Fernando whispers.

“What?” Steven asks. He could have sworn he heard someone else’s voice. “Is there someone else there with you?”

Fernando smiles as Sergio rolls over him. “No, I’m completely alone.” Sergio leans in slowly, making Fernando’s heart race. He kisses his neck, once, then again, and again. Fernando can’t help but release a soft moan.

“Um…”

“Hang up,” Sergio whispers.

“Uh, Fer?”

Fernando drops the phone, it slides down the pillow and onto the bed, near his chest. He grabs the sides of Sergio’s face and kisses him. Sergio doesn’t hesitate before kissing him back.

“Hello?” Steven can hear something going on, but he isn’t quite sure what. “Fer?” There’s no response, but he eventually hangs up the phone himself when he hears distinct kissing noises and the shuffling of bodies.

He places his phone down on his desk and sighs. What was he supposed to do now? He’s crap at relationships, always has been, and now he’s on his own. He could call Frank or John, but what would they say? Their relationship had always been perfect. They’d never fucked it up by admitting that they had trust issues. And Steven’s trust issues aren’t exactly his fault… He can’t help it. Maybe it was the years of being a “loser” from the band that made him wary to “popular” kids. Or maybe it was because his best friend had stopped being his best friend. Maybe it was Carra’s move that made Steven question everyone he met.

~

Cesc isn’t sure if asking Gerard is a good idea, but he figures that since they’re best friends, he might as well.

“Can I ask you something?” he asks. Gerard glances over at him and shrugs.

“Can’t it wait?” he asks. They’re at practice.

“No.”

Rolling his eyes, Gerard passes the ball back to Cesc. He waits for his friend to pass it back, but he doesn’t. He stops bouncing around. “What is it?”

Cesc sighs. “Do you think Iker likes me?”

Gerard frowns. “I thought you were over him.”

“I-I am.”

“Are you sure?” Gerard asks, finally getting the ball back. “Is this going to be a repeat of freshman year?”

“I’m not asking because I like him. I’m asking because… at Xabi’s party—”

“The party you never told me about,” Gerard cuts in bitterly.

“—he and I danced. And I didn’t think it was a big deal, but apparently he did, and I swear today during math class he kept giving me these looks, and yesterday during class he and I were talking, and then I was going start shit, because you know me, and then he gave me this look, and I…”

“You what?”

“I didn’t feel like starting shit anymore.”

Gerard rolls his eyes again, and Cesc starts to think that rolling his eyes is Gerard’s way of telling him he’s being ridiculous.

“Sounds to me that you like him,” Gerard finally says after a brief pause.

“What?! No. I told you, I’m over him.”

Sighing, Gerard kicks the ball harshly at Cesc’s leg. “You literally just said that he made you feel like being a good student for once. He changed your entire mood because he looked at you, Cesc. I’m pretty sure you’ve got feelings for him.”

Cesc takes the ball and juggles it for a second. “What should I do?” he asks, sounding like a child.

“Talk to him?”

The younger boy laughs. “Geri, you know I’m crap at communicating.”

“Yeah, so is the rest of the entire squad.” Gerard replies, glancing at the boys around them. He eyes Cristiano and Sergio before returning his gaze to Cesc.

~

Iker isn’t quite sure what he’s thinking, but when he sees Cesc talking with Pique and then look over at him, he’s caught off guard. He watches the pair closely for the rest of practice because he’s convinced that they’re talking about him or at least they were at one point. He even tries to get Sergio to do a walk-by so he can know the truth, but his friend refuses and tells him that he’s being dumb.

“Just go talk to him yourself.”

“I can’t.”

And mainly the reason why Iker “can’t” is because he’s not sure that he’d be able to actually talk to Cesc. Part of him is convinced that if he gets too close to the boy that he won’t be able to hold himself back. And not in a _if i see his face I’m going to punch him_ way, more of a _if I see his face I may have to kiss his lips off_ way, which isn’t something that Iker likes feeling. He prefers to be the one in control, the one whose emotions are in check.

“And why can’t you?” Sergio insists with a smirk. He knows exactly what’s going on, but Iker hasn’t had a crush like this since their sophomore year, so he’s more than happy to exploit it.

Iker glares at him. “You know why, you fucker.”

“Well I never,” Sergio says, his eyebrows high. “Saint Iker is cursing. Such foul words.”

“Seriously though,” Iker says, trying his best to look quite serious, it doesn’t work. He looks like a puppy. “Help me. Should I talk to him?”

Sergio laughs. “You’re too cute.”

“I hate you,” Iker deadpans before walking angrily away.

“Wait!” Sergio runs after him. “Yes, you should talk to him. Of course you should talk to him. Stop being an idiot.”

“Fine.”

Practice ends a few minutes later, and Sergio smiles and gives Iker a thumbs up before leaving him to his thoughts. Iker takes a deep breath and then suddenly he’s standing in front of Cesc. His legs acting without his permission.

“Hey, Iker,” Cesc greets. Iker smiles uneasily. Cesc bites his lip, unsure. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just wanted to talk to you about something…” Iker eyes the ground. He kicks the grass with his cleats, tufts of grass move around.

“Okay. What?” There’s a voice in the back of Cesc’s head telling him where this is going. And by the nervous look on Iker’s face,  
Cesc suspects his subconscious is right.

“Uh… I…” Iker loses the ability to form words. “I…”

“For God’s sake,” Cesc mumbles. Then he grabs both sides of Iker’s face and kisses him. “That what you wanted to talk about?”

Iker stands there dumbly, not saying a word, blinking slowly, in a daze.

“Gah,” Cesc rolls his eyes and turns away, exhausted by Iker’s lack of a response.

~

 **Fernando:** pls tell me youve apologized to xabi

 **Steven:** not yet…

 **Fernando:** WHY?!?!?

 **Steven:** i havent had the chance

 **Fernando:** ?????

 **Steven:** what?!

 **Fernando:** call him, text him, SHOW UP AT HIS HOUSE

 **Steven:** im not gonna show up at his house

 **Steven:** that’d be weird

 **Fernando:** u r killing me

 **Steven:** y r u so investing in my non-relationship with xabi?

 **Fernando:** i just thought you guys were cute IS THAT SUCH A CRIME

 **Steven:** jfc calm down

 **Fernando:** NOT UNTIL YOU CALL HIM

 **Steven:** srsly what is up w/ u.. u r never this obnoxious

 **Fernando:** I AM NOT OBNOXIOUS HOW DARE YOU SIR

 **Steven:** ….. umm

 **Fernando:** CALL HI

 **Fernando:** HIM

 **Fernando:** CALL XABI JUST FKNG CAJLKLKLIfjsdsfjlc

 **Steven:** ???

 **Fernando:** sry mate, sergio stole my phone

 **Steven:** oh

 **Fernando:** but he’s right you should call xabi

~

The second that Sergio sits down at the lunch table, he slams his tray (turkey sandwich and a bag of crisps) down on the table as to get everyone’s attention, but since it’s only him and Xabi at the table (everyone else is still on line), Xabi knows that slam was directed towards him. He glances over at Sergio hesitantly.

“Yes?”

“Did Steven call you last night?”

Xabi blinks. Not what he’d been expecting. “No….”

“Oh.”

“Why? Did he tell you he was going to?”

“Well no…”

Xabi takes a bite out of his pizza slice. The cheese is weird, but he isn’t surprised. The school lunches taste like shit? Wow, shocker. What does surprise him is that Sergio appears to care about his relationship/lack of a relationship with Steven. It’s odd to see him care so much. Xabi smiles. Fernando must be changing him. Making him more willing to be open with his feelings. Sergio is open and carefree, at least to the naked eye. But Xabi knows that he’s got insecurities just like everyone else.

“What would you do if he called?” Sergio asks.

Cesc and David Villa return from the line, shortly followed by Iker, Cristiano, and Gerard. Sergio avoids Cristiano’s gaze and continues staring at Xabi, waiting for his answer.

Xabi sips at his chocolate milk and shrugs. “It depends what he says.”

“What who says?” Cesc chimes in, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

“Stevie,” Xabi replies.

Cesc smirks. “I heard him and J.T. talking during free period,” he says.

“What did they say?”

Taking a long, slow bite out of his pizza, Cesc doesn’t reply for a few seconds. He watches Xabi as he eats, and from what he can tell, his friend is dying to hear his reply. _Gotcha,_ he thinks. He knows that Xabi is really annoyed with Steven, but he can also tell that he still likes him. And he’s dying for him to apologize, for any sort of communication really.

“They were talking about your fight—or argument, whatever—and John was saying that he was being ridiculous and that this whole thing got blown out of proportion and that Steven really needs to learn how to use his words and stop being a piece of shit. But that last bit might have been improvised…”

Iker smiles in Cesc’s direction, and for a second Cesc stops thinking about Xabi’s issues and just stares at Iker. How did he never see before? Iker is perfect.

“Maybe I should talk to him…” Xabi mumbles.

There’s an immediate chorus of “NO”s and “WHAT”s, but the most unique is, “GOD FUCKING DAMN YOU NO YOU FUCK.” (The last one coming from the mouth of one Sergio Ramos). Xabi shrinks back into his chair and frowns.

“Why not? I’m the one he doesn’t trust…” he says sadly, starting to doubt himself. He’d been so sure that it was all Steven’s fault, that it was his problem, but now he’s not so sure. Maybe there’s an underlying reason why Steven won’t talk to him. “Maybe if I apologize, he’ll see that he can trust me.”

David Villa, who normally doesn’t get involved in such conversations (mainly because he doesn’t know Steven too well and because he doesn’t care enough to learn more about him) sighs loudly. “Shut up.” Everyone stares at him. “You are not going to apologize because you have nothing to apologize for. Nothing. This isn’t your fault. The reason why you and him aren’t talking is because he’s a fucking idiot. So, so help me God, Xabi, if you call him or make the first move to patch things up between you, I will end you.”

No one says anything. Xabi stares at David, mouth hanging open. Then he nods. “You’re right.”

“You’re damn fucking right I’m right.”

“But I don’t want to just sit around waiting to see if he’s going to call me. I’m not that pathetic,” Xabi says sadly.

“I know what you mean,” Pique says. Cesc looks like he’s about to say something, but he stops himself. Maybe he’ll ask Gerard later.

They sit quietly so a minute before Xabi breaks the silence. “Can we please talk about something else?”

Iker frowns. Then gives Xabi and Cesc a smirk. “Today is pizza day.” He silently prays that Cesc will forget the events of yesterday's practice just for Xabi's sake. He's not disappointed.

Cesc’s eyes light up and he practically leaps to his feet. “WOW GOOD OBSERVATION,” he practically shouts, faking annoyance.

Everyone else at the lunch table is confused, but Xabi and Iker laugh loudly and egg Cesc on.

“Tell me, Cesc dear,” Xabi says. “How do you feel about pizza?”

“Pizza is love, pizza is life,” he says seriously.

Everyone groans. “Don’t ever reference that video again,” Iker mumbles. Gerard scowls in Cesc's direction, Sergio looks horrified, Cristiano covers his ears and pretends to cry, David looks ready to punch Cesc in the face, and Xabi.. Xabi looks confused.

“What just happened?” he asks.

Cesc smirks. “You don’t get that reference?”

“Uh… no…?”

“Save yourself,” Sergio whispers, a scared look in his eye.

“What? Why?”

“It’s a video,” Sergio says. “It’s called ‘Shrek is love, Shrek is life’ and it is highly disturbing.”

Xabi shudders at the thought. If a video is weird enough to scar Sergio for life than it must be bad…

“So did anyone do the calc—” Gerard starts, hoping to change the subject (yet again).

“HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FOCUS ON CALCULUS AFTER CESC’S PUT THAT VIDEO IN MY BRAIN,” Sergio screams, earning a few judging looks from neighboring tables.

In the corner of his eye, Xabi can see Fernando and Steven giving Sergio a weird look. And then suddenly, Steven is looking at him. Xabi panics. He should look away. He should ignore him. But Steven is staring at him, and then he has the urge to wink at him like he would normally do. Instead, their eye contact is broken when David Villa snaps his fingers in front of Xabi’s face and whacks him on the head.

“No,” he says as if Xabi is a puppy that’s being house-trained.

And instead of making a nasty comment about him not being an animal, Xabi goes quiet and tries not to lick his wounds.

~

“I swear, Steve-o, you’ve been staring at Xabi the entire lunch period,” Frank says.

“Have not.”

He rolls his eyes, and John gives Steven a look that says _you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me_. Pepe ignores their argument and settles for eating his tomato soup in silence.

“Yes, you have,” Fernando adds impatiently.

“It’s only ‘cause he’s so beautiful,” Steven mutters.

“You’re the worst,” Frank says angrily.

“I’m gonna apologize tonight,” Steven says after a beat.

Everyone smiles immediately.

“FINALLY,” Pepe shouts, breaking his silence.

Steven slams his head onto the table. “Shut up,” he mumbles.

~

The last thing Ricky expects when he sits down in his math class is for the boy in the back to say anything to him. In fact, he avoids eye contact with the boy because he’s afraid that he’ll snap at him again. Much to Ricky’s surprise, he isn’t ignored.

“Hey.” The voice is quiet, but not shy, just soft.

Ricky turns around to see the boy looking at him, somewhat smiling.

“Hi?” but it’s more of a question than a response.

“I’m Cristiano,” the other boy says. Ricky nods, not sure why Cristiano is telling him this. Then he notices Cristiano visibly sigh.

“I… I’m sorry about yesterday.”

“Oh.” Ricky isn’t quite sure what to say. It’s okay? Except it’s not… He isn’t okay with being yelled at. _I forgive you?_ Is Cristiano even asking for his forgiveness? Why does he care what Ricky thinks of him. From what he saw the previous day, Cristiano didn’t seem to give a crap about other people’s thoughts or feelings.

“I was in a bad mood,” Cristiano explains. “I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

It’s a decent reason, Ricky decides. So he half-smiles and says, “I forgive you.”

They don’t talk again for the rest of class, but there’s a thought in the back of Ricky’s mind that’s telling him not to get used to Cristiano’s good behavior. For all he knows it’s just another “mood” and he’s going to be angry again tomorrow.

~

Xabi slams his locker shut and grabs his backpack up off the floor. After slinging it over his shoulder, he grabs his crutches and spins around and runs face-first into someone. Their foreheads collide and Xabi immediately steps back, one of his crutches falling to the ground. He rubs his head, frowning at the pain. “What the hell?”

“Sorry!” Steven says looking worried. He reaches down and grabs the fallen crutch. “I-I didn’t mean to hit you.”

Grabbing the crutch back without replying, Xabi eyes Steven warily. “So I guess you’re finally talking to me?” he asks.

Steven looks down and scuffs his shoe on the ground. “Yeah…”

Xabi rolls his eyes and leans back against the lockers. “Well?”

Biting his lip self-consciously, Steven glances up at Xabi. He doesn’t say thing for a few seconds. He takes one deep breath and then starts. “I’m sorry. And I’m also sorry that it took so long to apologize.”

“Why _did_ it take so long?” Xabi asked, eyebrows raised. He doesn’t even bother to hide his annoyance.

“I’m an idiot,” Steven says. “And I’m really bad at communicating… Or at least that’s what my friends have been saying… Anyway, I don’t really have an excuse for being such an asshole.”

Xabi’s expression is stoic. “It’s fine that you’re apologizing, but I’d rather you explain why you did what you did in the first place.”

“I was drunk… I didn’t… I never wanted to hurt you.” He internally grimaces at the cliche line.

“You did though,” Xabi says unkindly. “Do you really not trust me?” he asks, looking down at his shoes.

“I do. I swear,” Steven insists. “I mean… I have doubts—”

Xabi starts to turn away.

“—But I have doubts about everyone!”

Xabi gives him a look and stays in place.

“Sometimes I’m afraid that Fer or Pepe or Frank or John are only pretending to be my friends because they feel sorry for me,” Steven admits. He’s never told anyone else that before. “I can’t help but have doubts. It’s nothing personal, and it doesn’t mean I don’t like you any less…”

“Well I can assure you that I wasn’t trying to prank you,” Xabi mutters.

Steven smiles. “I know. I know… I shouldn’t have said that I thought you would do that. And I really want to—”

“Can we sit down somewhere?” Xabi asks. “I’m practically balancing on one foot right now.”

“Yeah sure. Um…”

Xabi grabs his crutches and starts walking towards the exit. “Grab my bag, we can talk in your car.”

Steven stays back a few seconds, processing what’s just happened. “My car?” he asks quietly.

Looking back over his shoulder, Xabi almost-smiles. “Well yeah. I can’t drive with a broken right foot…. I usually get a ride home with Iker, but he had debate club after school today. I'd rather now just sit around waiting for him to finish.”

“So you’re just using me for a ride?” Steven asks, but he’s joking.

“Yep,” Xabi says with a slight smirk.

Steven’s face breaks into a huge smile as he runs after Xabi, who is quickly crutching down the hall. He stops in front of the door and waits for Steven to open it for him. Steven bows and says, “Good sir.”

For the first time since they’d started talking, Xabi shows him a genuine smile. He rolls his eyes and crutches past Steven, trying not to forgive him too quickly, but he can already feel it. His anger melting away. The feeling of betrayal vanishes.

He climbs into the car with the help of Steven. The first few minutes of the car ride are quiet, but then after Steven says “sooo” they continue.

“So do you maybe want to talk about things…?” Steven asks.

Xabi glances over at him. “What do you mean?”

“Like being close again.. I would say getting back together, but we were never really offi—”

“We were basically dating,” Xabi scoffs.

“Oh so now you admit it?” Steven says, sounding slightly annoyed.

Rolling his eyes, Xabi turns his head to look out the window. “Yeah. I guess so. But, come on…”

The rest of the car ride to Xabi’s house is filled with silence. Xabi rests his head on the window and refuses to meet Steven’s gaze. Finally, Steven pulls into the driveway connected to Xabi’s massive house. He gets out of the car to help Xabi get all his things and just as he’s about to turn away and go back in his car, Xabi grabs his wrist. “Wait,” Xabi whispers. “Do you want to come inside?”

Steven hesitates. But then he looks up at Xabi, sees the pleading in his eyes. “Yeah, of course.”

Xabi appears reluctant to let go of Steven’s wrist, but he eventually does because he physically cannot crutch to his house if he’s holding Steven and not a crutch.

“You can just throw my stuff over there,” Xabi says pointing to a table with a bunch of folders and notebooks on it. Steven obliges and then follows Xabi upstairs to his room. He has to help Xabi with the stairs at one point because he nearly slips on a random sock lying on one step. Xabi abandons his crutches as soon as they make it to his room. He practically flings himself into the bean bag in front of his bed and sighs loudly. “I hate using crutches,” he explains.

Steven grabs the second bean bag, which is always stored in his closet, and joins Xabi on the floor. “You could always get a boot?” he suggests, but it sounds like a question because he’s unsure if a boot is an actually possibility.

“Maybe,” Xabi shrugs. Then he fake fans himself and grabs the material of his sweatshirt at his neck, and in one smooth motion he pulls his sweatshirt over his head, the way that all boys do, and tosses it to the side. He quickly adjusts his shirt, which has ridden up a lot and exposed the majority of his abs. He laughs with embarrassment and tries not to blush too much. 

Biting his lip, Steven looks away after he sees that Xabi’s shirt is half off.

“I’m sorry,” he says.

“I know you are,” Xabi says. “I’m over what happened.” It’s the truth. Like Steven, he has his own insecurities. And being angry at someone for being insecure isn’t fair. They can’t help it, after all. If Xabi ignored Steven forever than his insecurities could get worse. So why not possibly work together to rid him of his self-consciousness and anxiety?

“Can we go back to normal?” Steven asks.

Xabi smirks. “Normal being…?”

Steven looks away, not able to meet Xabi’s cheeky gaze. “I mean like to back before the party.”

“No,” Xabi says immediately.

“Oh…” Steven is taken aback. He looks down sadly.

“I’d rather not go back to before the party,” Xabi says. “Because we may have been basically dating but we weren’t official.”

“Okay?” Stevens confused.

“And I’d prefer if we were ‘official’ rather than ‘basically.’”

Steven’s head whips around. “What?” he asks almost breathlessly. Is Xabi saying what he thinks he’s saying? Is he… suggesting that they get together? Like for real… His heart races and his face breaks into a premature smile.

“I mean…” Xabi starts hesitantly. “Only if you want to.”

“I do."

Xabi starts to smile. “You do?”

“Yeah…” Steven drifts off and leans in closer, sliding off his bean bag and making room for himself on Xabi’s. He stares at Xabi for a few seconds, smile taking up his entire face. And then he cups the sides of Xabi’s face and leans in for a gentle kiss. Responding immediately, Xabi kisses him back, half-smiling, half-kissing in a strange combination that Steven finds to be adorable.

“I missed you,” Steven whispers.

“It’s only been a few days…”

Blushing, Steven tries to look away. “It was just weird not being around someone who’s become such a big part of my life in a short amount of time… Plus it was so hard to listen to you suck at the clarinet in band class.”

“Fuck off,” Xabi replies, pushing Steven’s shoulder lightly.

“Make me,” Steven says.

And then Xabi kisses him again, and again, and… again. “For the record,” Xabi breathes. “I missed you too.” He runs his fingers through Steven’s hair, tugging at it lightly, and bringing him closer. Steven slowly begins to stand up, pulling Xabi up with him. Steven spins them and Xabi ungracefully hops in a circle until the back of his legs are against his bed. They both fall slowly onto the bed, scrambling a little so that they aren’t hanging off the edge. After laughing a bit and trying to get comfortable without ruining the mood, Xabi spreads his legs apart so Steven can lie in between his thighs and Steven grabs the hem of his shirt so he can pull it over his head. Xabi runs his hands up Steven’s chest and—

“Xabi?” There’s a loud knock on his door. It’s his mom’s voice.

Xabi shoots Steven a panicked look, and without a word, Steven quietly rolls off the bed and hides in the closet. Xabi fixes his  
hair and sits up. “Yeah?”

His mom slowly opens the door and smiles at her son. “How was school today?”

“It was fine.”

Smiling to herself, his mother nods. “That’s nice. Well, sweetie, I'll be downstairs working if you need anything. Dinner tonight is just going to be leftovers so help yourself.” She blows a kiss before closing the door behind her.

A beat later, Steven steps out of the closet. “She seems nice,” he says.

Xabi ushers him over. “Don’t talk about my mom. Just kiss me.”

And Steven is more than happy to oblige.

~

 **Sergio:** did you and stevie talk yet?

 **Xabi:** yep

 **Sergio:** well?????????

 **Xabi:** ;)

 **Sergio:** what the fuck is that supposed to mean?????

 **Xabi:** ;))

 **Sergio:** DUDE

 **Xabi:** we’re dating

 **Sergio:** oh????

 **Xabi:** yeah…

 **Sergio:** YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY

 **Xabi:** lol

~

 **Fernando:** they're together again!

 **Alvaro:** x  & s?

 **Fernando:** si

 **Alvaro:** wooooo

 **Alvaro:** thank god

 **Alvaro:** i hated listening to xabi bitch about stevie

 **Fernando:** hahaha watching stevie be miserable was fucking annoying

~

Cesc is sitting on Gerard's bed, typing an essay while Gerard finishes his math homework. He hadn't thought about it since lunch but suddenly Cesc remembers what he'd wanted to ask Gerard about. "What was about your comment during lunch?"

"Huh?" Gerard doesn't even look up.

"You said ‘i know what u mean’ when xabi was saying that he didn’t want to be pathetic."

Gerard glances up. "Yeah..."

"Why?"

"Does it matter?"

For a moment Cesc doesn't know what to say. How could Gerard think him feeling pathetic wouldn't matter. "It matters to me… i don't like thinking about you being sad."

"It doesn’t really matter anymore," Gerard says before bringing his attention back to his calculus problems.

"Oh, okay.." Cesc frowns, but goes back to his homework too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you thought :)


	7. "I miss you"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lots and lost of kissing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is proofreading?

Cristiano never imagined that he’d enjoy talking to the new kid. But he does. A lot. Ever since that day he apologized to Ricky, they’ve talked during class and… Cristiano doesn’t hate it? Turns out Ricky likes football too, and even though he isn’t a Real Madrid fan—of course he supports AC Milan, he lived in Milan for several years—Cristiano finds himself chatting with him about different clubs and managers and the upcoming World Cup.

“Brazil is going to win,” Ricky says confidently.

Cristiano scoffs. “I think you meant to say Portugal.”

“No,” Ricky says with a laugh. “I said what I meant. Brazil is going to win.”

“Shouldn’t you be supporting Italy or something?” Cristiano asks. “Didn’t you just move from Milan?”

“I was born in Brazil,” Ricky replies.

“Oh.” Then Cristiano smiles. “So do you know any Portuguese?”

Ricky smiles. “A bit.”

That’s when their math teacher tells them to shut up and pay attention to the lesson. Ricky looks taken aback and then returns to taking notes. He’s never been yelled at by a teacher before. He glances over at Cristiano who is smirking.

“You think this is funny?” Ricky whispers.

“It’s hilarious,” Cristiano says with a wink.

“Getting yelled at by the teacher isn’t funny!”

Rolling his eyes, Cristiano looks back down at his notes and tries to focus on the practice problem that the teacher’s just written on the board. He’s just about done with the problem when he hears Ricky clear his throat. He peers over at the boy sitting next to him and raises his eyebrows questioningly.

“How do you do this?” Ricky asks.

Cristiano smirks. “What? I-got-here-on-a-full-ride-scholarship Ricky can’t figure out a simple math problem?”

Frowning, Ricky turns back in his desk and ignores Cristiano when he tries to apologize.

“Dude I was joking. Of course I’ll help you out.”

Ricky keeps ignoring him, and Cristiano feels his heart sink. In a matter of seconds he’s managed to ruin another friendship. And it’s not like him and Ricky have known each other for a long time, but he still feels sad that Ricky is mad at him. He’s been trying to regain his confidence after the whole Sergio fiasco—things are fine between them, at least on the outside—and even though Cristiano puts up this wall of arrogance and uncaring, _he_ knows that it’s all just a lie. He knows that he does it because he doesn’t want to get hurt, and sometimes he thinks that maybe it’s not a good idea to shut people out, but then things like this happen and he’s glad that the wall’s there because he can’t stand to have people see what they do to him. What they do to his emotions. He tries not to let people’s thoughts of him affect him too much, but he—

“Hey,” Ricky says.

Cristiano looks over at him, forgetting for a split second that he shouldn’t be freaking out about a boy who he’s just met.

“I know you’re joking,” he whispers with a laugh. “I was just messing with you.”

Relief washes over Cristiano’s face before he can stop it. “Cool,” he tries to say casually. “So what do you need help with?”

~

Gerard is walking alone in the halls, trying to get to his next class even though he’s already ten minutes late, when someone grabs his arm. He turns. It’s Cesc. He looks down at his friend, who is dressed like a punk as usual. He smiles despite how annoyed he is that Cesc is about to make him even more late for class.

“Why didn’t you answer my text last night?” Cesc whines.

“I was busy,” Gerard lies.

“Geriiii…”

He keeps walking, turning his back to his best friend. “I have to get to class Cesc.”

Cesc tugs on his arm once again. “No you don’t! Screw class. Talk to me.” He gives him one of those puppy-dog looks. “Please, Geri. Talk to me. I feel like you’ve been ignoring me recently.”

Gerard stops and turns around so he can face his friend. Cesc still looks like a little puppy, and he knows that he really shouldn’t be thinking that because Cesc is basically the same age as him, but it’s always been the running joke that Cesc is the baby in their little friend group. He doesn’t want to hurt him, but he doesn’t want to tell him the truth either. Either way he looks at it, Gerard doesn’t see the situation ending well. So he opts for the selfish route, and maybe he’ll regret it in the future, but he can’t help himself.

“I don’t think you and Iker should get together,” he says.

Cesc frowns. “We’re not--”

“But you kissed him. I saw. And I know that he wants to be with you too, but you shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“I just don’t think it’d work out.”

Cesc frowns again. “But that’s not your call to make.” He pauses for a moment and considers something. “Is that really why you’ve been ignoring me? Because you don’t think I should date Iker? I don’t get it…”

Gerard tries to shrug it off with nonchalance. “I didn’t want to have to tell you myself. I figured it was something you could figure out for yourself.”

“I still don’t get it… Why don’t you think it’d work out?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Gerard says, regretting his next words before he even says them. “He thinks you’re too immature.”

Pulling at the loose threads of his jacket, Cesc looks down at his shoes. And it’s terrible because Gerard knows that of course Iker doesn’t think Cesc is too immature—he probably loves how immature Cesc is—but he can’t stop himself. For that moment, it’s easier to lie to Cesc, his best friend of all people, than to tell him what he’s really thinking. But then, it’s that moment that Gerard realizes what he’s just done. He just lied to his _best friend_ because he was too afraid to tell him how he really felt. And then he feels sick.

He finally comes out of his thoughts to see that Cesc is already walking away down the hall, looking dejected. “Cesc, wait!” Gerard calls after him.

He runs after his best friend, all thoughts about being late to class gone. “Wait,” he says again. Cesc spins around to look at him, and Gerard’s heart breaks. Cesc’s eyes are filled with tears. “I lied about Iker,” Gerard admits. “Don’t cry--”

“I’m not crying about Iker, you idiot,” Cesc spits out. He wipes the tears from his eyes and glares at Gerard with such an intensity that Gerard thinks he’s going to melt into a puddle. “I’m crying because my best fucking friend is lying to me, and I can’t figure out why. Why would you lie to me about something like that? Is it really too hard to tell me the truth?”

Gerard bites his lip. “The truth? I… What do you know about the truth?”

“I’m not an idiot, Geri. I’ve known you since we were five. I know you _._ I’m not oblivious enough to realize how you feel. And I’m also not dumb enough to think that things with you could be easy. I knew that you would be too afraid to tell me what you’re really thinking, why you’re really ignoring me.”

“I don’t--”

“You’re ignoring me,” Cesc says, “because you like me.”

“Like you?” Gerard scoffs. “Is this supposed to be some big realization? Of course I _like_ you, Cesc--”

“No, you asshole.” Cesc crosses his arms over his chest. “You _like_ me,” he says again, raising his eyebrows and giving Gerard one of those looks, and Gerard knows that hiding now wouldn’t make sense. He’s been caught. Cesc knows, and Cesc knows that Gerard knows that Cesc knows. Everyone knows. And it’s such a big fucking mess, and Gerard wishes that it didn’t have to be, but apparently things with Cesc are always going to be complicated because god for-fucking-bid that things were simple.

Cesc looks up at Gerard expectantly, and Gerard doesn’t know how long he’s been standing there silently, but apparently it’s been long enough because Cesc is looking impatient.

“Yeah,” he mutters. “Yeah. You’re right.” It’s scary to admit it out loud, and Gerard is both terrified and excited that he’s told Cesc the truth, even if the other boy had to practically pry it out of him.

“I’m sorry,” Cesc says.

Gerard frowns. Why is _he_ sorry? “No, I’m sorry for being a dick and trying to get you to not like Iker. That wasn’t cool.”

“It’s whatever. But I _am_ sorry. Sorry that I don’t feel the same way.”

It isn’t news or anything, but just the fact that Cesc is saying it out loud makes it so much more real and painful. Gerard tries not to make his heart break feel so loud, but he just knows that Cesc is sensing it too.

“Yeah, I know,” Gerard replies, successfully keeping the pain out of his voice.

Then Cesc turns and leaves. Gerard stands in the hallway, his back pressed against the wall for a long time. When the bell rings and people flood the hallways, he follows the crowd and eventually finds his way to his locker. He grabs all his things, pays the nurse a visit, and after a bit of faking and a call from his mother, he leaves the school early, the stomach ache he pretended to feel back at the nurses office suddenly making a grand entrance.

~

“Please tell me that you’re not actually going to eat that,” Steven asks.

Fernando looks down at his cheeseburger, which is realizes doesn’t actually look like a cheeseburger, and shrugs. “Yeah. Might as well.”

Steven scrunches his face in disgust as he picks up one of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the sandwich buffet.

“As if that’s any better,” Fernando mocks. “How do you know that’s even real peanut butter?”

“Shut up,” Steven says. But he puts the plate back down anyway. “I’ll just get a cheeseburger.”

“Thought you said it was gross.”

“It is, but at least, this way, if you get food poisoning, you’ll have someone to throw up with.”

Fernando smiles. “How sweet.”

“Yeah, I’m just the sweetest,” Steven replies with a wink.

They pay for their food and then find their way back to their lunch table. Frank and John are already there, not so discretely holding hands and being disgusting as always, and Pepe is missing. Steven scans the lunch room. He stops when he sees Pepe standing at Xabi’s lunch table, talking with Iker presumably about the massive English project that they’re doing together. _Nerds_ , Steven thinks. _Who the heck willingly takes AP English?_

“So…” Steven says. He directs it to John and Frank, but neither of them notice so Steven slumps back in his chair and eats his cheeseburger angrily.

Fernando laughs. “So, Stevie…” he starts with a smirk.

“Yes?” He knows exactly what’s coming.

“Are you going to give me any details about you and Xabi?”

“None.”

He pouts. “Please? I think I deserve to know considering I’m the mastermind behind it all.”

Steven scrunches his eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

Fernando smiles proudly and then explains everything. “Once you and Xabi started fighting, I talked to Alvaro. He sits next to me in my French class so it really wasn’t that hard. Anyway, he told me that he really had no romantic interest in Xabi, and that he really only wanted to be just friends so he agreed to help me get you two back together. It was my idea to have him post something on Instagram of Xabi doing something that would make you jealous…”

Steven is silent for a few moments. Then he takes the top bun off his burger and throws it at Fernando’s face. “You’re such a loser,” he says affectionately.

“You love me though,” Fernando replies, making kissy faces at his friend.

“Yeah, yeah,” Steven says.

“So you and him are official?”

Steven nods, and then blushes when Fernando awes at him. “Shut up. What about you and Sergio? What’s happening there?”

Fernando smiles. “We’re good. I told you about the whole him and Cristiano thing at the party, but I’ve decided to forgive him.”

“Aren’t you afraid that he’s going to do it again?’

“Yeah,” Fernando admits. “But I'm afraid of a lot of things..”

He smiles and looks over at the other table. They’re all laughing and eating, and it makes him happy. Sergio makes him happy, which is a weird feeling because he’s got a bad record with boys. Usually he finds someone and then everything falls to shit, but so far with Sergio, things haven’t fallen apart. Sure they’ve had a couple of bumps, but nothing has torn apart just yet. He’s surprised. _Maybe it wasn’t me all along?_ Fernando thinks. Maybe it was the other boys. Maybe every fucked up relationship he’s had in the past was just that. Fucked up. And out of his control. Fernando suddenly feels better, and Steven can tell.

“Why are you smiling like that?” he asks.

“’Cause I’m happy,” he replies honestly.

A second later another cheeseburger bun hits him in the face.

~

As soon as Pepe walks away, Iker puts away his English notes and turns to face the other people at the table. He smiles at Cesc who’s looking a little sad. He sends him a text because he figures that it might be something that he doesn’t want to talk about in front of everyone.

 **Iker:** you okay?

 **Cesc:** no..

 **Iker:** do you want to talk about it?

Cesc glances up at Iker and nods. They both stand up at the same time. No one says anything, but Sergio gives Iker a knowing smirk. As soon as they’re out of the lunch room, Iker grabs Cesc’s arm and leads him away from the noise that’s bursting from the cafeteria doors. They find a quiet place to talk in the empty library.

“What’s up?” Iker asks. He slides down onto one of the couches that’s next to a large wall of books. Iker basically lived in the library his junior year and that couch was always his favorite. Plus it was tucked away in one of the corners where the librarians couldn’t see, which was always nice when he wanted to take a nap.

Cesc sits down next to him, their thighs touching, and rests his head on Iker’s shoulder. Iker tries to hide his surprise, but he’s sure that Cesc noticed, but instead of saying anything, Cesc grabs Iker’s arm and wraps it around his shoulders. He lets his head rest on Iker’s chest and wraps his own arm around Iker’s stomach.

“Cesc?” Iker asks. “What’s wrong?”

He’s used to Cesc being an obnoxious asshole, that kid who always has to make a comment about what the teacher is doing or saying or even wearing. He’s used to Cesc wearing all black. He’s used to the lip piercing Cesc got a few weeks ago because he knew that his parents wouldn’t like it. He’s used to Cesc complaints about his parents to Iker, who is pretty sure that Cesc’s parents are just trying their best, but he’s never told Cesc that he should stop being such a dick to them.

One thing he isn’t used to is Cesc’s tendency to randomly want to touch. Sometimes he’ll sit on Sergio’s lap at lunch, and sometimes he’ll hold Cristiano’s hand in the hall way, and clearly Cesc doesn’t think it’s weird, which Iker is grateful for because it makes him feel less awkward.

Cesc grips at Iker’s side and nudges his chest with his head. “I…” he starts. “Today, I finally got Geri to admit that he likes me, and… I-I don’t feel any better. I was sure that I’d feel better.”

“You don’t?” Iker wants to ask about the whole Gerard liking Cesc thing, but he doesn’t.

“No. I feel guilty.”

Iker bites his lip. “Why’s that?”

Cesc sits up a bit so he can look Iker in the eyes. “Well isn’t it obvious?”

Shaking his head, Iker glances away from Cesc for a moment, and when he looks back, Cesc is still staring at him. “Guess not.”

“I feel guilty,” Cesc says lightly. “Because I like you. And I hate hurting Geri…”

Iker can’t help but smile.

“Stop it,” Cesc says, but he’s smiling too.

“I’m sorry that you’re upset,” Iker says honestly.

Cesc’s fingers flex against Iker’s side. “Don’t worry about it. In fact, let’s not talk about it anymore.”

Iker licks his lips and smiles hesitantly. “What do you want to talk about instead?”

“Actually, I’d rather not talk at all…” Cesc replies with a cheeky grin.

Iker blushes. “Oh, so--”

Then Cesc’s lips are pressed against his and Iker forgets what he was going to say. He lets his hands wander up Cesc’s back, and Cesc shuffles against the cushions and moves his legs until he’s straddling Iker and his hands are tangled in Iker’s short locks. Iker’s hands run down Cesc’s back until they jump over to his thighs and his arms and his butt and he can’t believe how much Iker wants this too, and he nearly breaks away from the kiss just so he can smile like an idiot, but he can’t help it. He’s wanted to be with Iker for so long. He’s had this crush for years and now… now he’s in the library kissing with him on a couch where the librarians can’t see them, can’t yell at them. And it’s as perfect as he wanted it to be because there’s no one around to tell them to stop.

Cesc nearly smiles again when Iker slips his tongue into his mouth. Cesc can’t help himself as his hips rub against Iker’s, and he certainly can’t help the smile his mouth forms when Iker gasps at the contact.

Iker looks like he’s about to say something so Cesc kisses him again, letting his hands fall from Iker’s hand and press up against his chest. He feels the keeper’s hard abs and then his arm muscles. He takes a moment to admire the way Iker’s mouth fits perfectly against his, and the way his tongue tastes just like he imagined it would, and he doesn’t even think about how people could walk in and see them at any moment because he really doesn’t care. He’s not ashamed. If anything, he wants people to see. He wants everyone to know that Iker is his.

~

“Where did Iker and Cesc go?” Xabi asks when he sits down with his lunch.

Sergio doesn’t even look up from the last minute homework that he’s doing. “Pretty sure they left to go make out somewhere.”

“Really?”

“Not clue. Haven’t really been paying attention to the comings and goings of our lunch table.”

Xabi laughs. “Yeah I can see that. What homework are you doing?”

When Sergio doesn’t answer, Xabi glances over at Cristiano and David who are laughing about some video they saw online. They seem to be in their own little world so he peers over at Steven’s table. He looks over just as Steven throws what appears to be a hamburger bun at Fernando’s face. He wonders what that’s about.

Finally David looks away from Cristiano’s phone and acknowledges Xabi’s presence. “So what happened with you and Gerrard? Has he apologized yet?”

Xabi smiles. “Yeah… He did.”

“Great,” David replies with an eye-roll. "Now I’ve got to deal with you two as well. I swear to god the couples are multiplying. It’s gross.”

Cristiano laughs. “Do you think Cesc and Iker are going get together?” He asks. Xabi likes the way his voice isn’t sad anymore. There’s definitely been some improvement in Cristiano’s life.

“Like I said,” Sergio says. “They’re probably making out somewhere.”

“Making out doesn’t equal a relationship,” Cristiano replies before he realizes what he’s said.

He and Sergio make eye contact for a second, and he’s momentarily afraid that things are going to go back to being awkward, but then Sergio shrugs. “You’re right.”

There’s a loud beep and Cristiano reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. He smiles and then glances over at the cafeteria doors. He appears to wave someone over, and so the rest of the table follows his line of sight.

“Who’s that?” Xabi asks.

Sergio frowns. There’s a boy walking towards them. He’s wearing skinny jeans and a nicely fitted navy blue polo. He smiles at their table and fixes his brown hair with a quick flick of his head.

“That’s Ricky,” Cristiano supplies. Then the so-called Ricky sits down next to Cristiano. “This is Sergio, Xabi, and David,” Cristiano explains to the newcomer.

“Hello,” Ricky says in an accent that Sergio can’t quite place.

“He’s new,” Cristiano says. “Just moved here from Milan.”

“Never thought you were the welcoming type,” Sergio mutters before turning back to his homework. Cristiano frowns, but doesn’t let Sergio’s vague words get to him.

“So are you an AC or Inter Milan fan?” Xabi asks.

Ricky smiles. “AC.”

Xabi nods. “I can respect that.”

“Are you a fan as well?”

“No... My heart belongs to Real Madrid,” he replies.

David shakes his head. “Yeah, _and_ Liverpool _and_ Bayern Munich. He’s got no club loyalty.”

“Shut up,” Xabi says. “I _like_ Liverpool and Bayern Munich, but I _love_ Madrid.”

“Sureee,” David replies.

Xabi throws some of his French fries at David’s head, purposely getting some in his hair.

“You’re such a dick,” David complains.

~

“Tell me again why we’re making out in the janitor closet?” Fernando asks, brushing his lips against Sergio’s neck.

“Because,” Sergio says with a husky voice. “It’s fun.”

Fernando’s hands grab fumble at Sergio’s zipper. “You got that right,” he replies as he undresses his boyfriend.

“No fair,” Sergio whispers. He reaches for Fernando’s shirt and quickly pulls it over his head. “I love your freckles.” He leans down and kisses some of the little dots on Fernando’s chest. He uses his tongue to connect the dots and smirks to himself at the little noises Fernando makes. He leans down lower and lower, letting his longue follow the line of freckles that cover Fernando’s abs and then he goes even lower, and he’s on his knees and Fernando is practically begging for it at this point with all the noises that are escaping his throat.

They’re supposed to be in their last class of the day, but Sergio didn’t even last five minutes before telling his teacher that he needed to go to the nurse. Luckily, Fernando was as bored in his class as Sergio was because he didn’t hesitate to find Sergio in what they would later refer to has the janitor closet where Sergio gave the best blow job Fernando ever received.

Sergio undoes Fernando’s zipper with his teeth while Fernando plays with Sergio’s hair and tries not to kick him with anticipation because Sergio is just so warm and perfect and he’s honestly never been the type of person to make out in a janitor closet, but some how Sergio makes him want to be that the type of person.

“You okay with this?” Sergio asks.

And Fernando is almost embarrassed with how eagerly he says yes.

~

Xabi lies across the entire couch, his broken foot propped up on the arm of the couch and his head resting in his boyfriend’s lap. Steven absentmindedly plays with Xabi’s hair as he watches the Manchester United v Manchester City match. He isn’t quite sure how Xabi managed to fall asleep, but he doesn’t mind.

City scores, and despite the fact that Steven is a hardcore Liverpool fan he cheers. Any one who plays United has Steven’s support.

Xabi stirs, and then blinks up at Steven who is still smiling from the goal.

“Hey,” Xabi says.

Steven looks down. “Hey. Did I wake you?”

“’S alright,” Xabi says sleepily. He turns to look at the score and frowns.

“What?” Steven asks with a laugh. “Did you want United to win?”

“Course not,” Xabi replies with an offended tone to his voice. “I just… Seeing them play football makes me sad. I wish my foot wasn’t… You know.”

Steven rubs circles into the back of Xabi’s head. “It’s okay. You’re going to be able to play soon. Three or four more weeks and you’ll be able to take your cast off.

“I know… I hate just sitting around.”

“Hey, you’re just sitting around with me.”

“True,” Xabi replies. He sits up and swings his legs around, reaching forward and grabbing the material of Steven’s shirt. “Do you really want to watch this game or do you want to make out?”

Steven smiles and leans in to kiss his boyfriend, but stops just before their lips touch. “To be honest I’d rather watch the game.”

Xabi is offended for about 0.5 seconds before Steven leans in once again and kisses him.

“That’s what I thought,” Xabi mumbles against his lips.

Steven laughs and kisses him again. Xabi rotates around so that he’s sitting up facing Steven and his legs are now bent over Steven’s lap. One of Steven’s hands runs up and down Xabi’s leg and the other cups Xabi’s cheek, holding his strong jaw and brushing against Xabi’s stubble.

“Come here,” Xabi whispers as he pulls at Steven’s shirt once more. He leans back against the couch until he’s lying down again. Steven rearranges himself so that he’s basically lying on top of Xabi. Both of Xabi’s hands move up and down Steven’s back, pulling at his t-shirt at random intervals until he finally pulls up his shirt and gets Steven to wiggle out of it without breaking their kiss for too long. Steven’s leg is pressed between Xabi’s thighs and each time he moves his mouth against Xabi’s he can feel himself pressing against Xabi’s crotch.

Steven reaches down and grabs the hem of Xabi’s shirt, lifting it above his boyfriend’s head and throwing it across the room. He returns to kissing Xabi a second later.

“When are your parents coming home?” Xabi manages to say between kisses.

Steven takes his lips away from Xabi’s and then kisses a trail from his jaw down to his neck. He reaches the part that connects Xabi’s neck and shoulder and sucks at it, making Xabi moan.

“They won’t be back--” Steven sucks at his neck again. “Until tomorrow.” He runs his tongue across the spot where he’s positive Xabi will have a hickey later.

“Tomorrow?” Xabi breathes.

Steven’s lips brush against Xabi’s collarbone and then down his chest.

“Stevie…” Xabi says when he reaches his hips. Steven kisses each hipbone and the skin in between, and then he looks up at Xabi questioningly. “Don’t stop.”

Smiling, Steven runs his hands up and down Xabi’s thighs, slowing down each time he nears his crotch. He leans forward and kisses Xabi’s neck once more, then his jaw, which drives Xabi crazy, and then his lips. As he sucks on Xabi’s bottom lip his hand presses against Xabi’s upper thigh and then slowly moves closer towards his inner thigh until Steven’s palming him through his jeans.

Xabi returns the favor when he lets his hands wander back down to Steven’s butt, which he gives another firm squeeze. He and Steven both reach for each other’s zippers at the same time. They stop kissing long enough to stare at each other, eyebrows raised in an is-this-okay look.

They both smile, and then separately remove their jeans and fling them across the room. Or at least Steven flings his across the room. Xabi has enough decency not to make a mess of someone else’s house so he simply tosses his onto the coffee table next to the couch.

“So neat,” Steven mocks.

“Fuck off,” Xabi says.

“Okay,” Steven starts to stand up.

“Come back here,” Xabi whines.

And Steven leans back down, kissing Xabi even though he hears the commentator’s scream “GOALLL” and he desperately wants to know who’s scored, but Xabi’s lips taste too good to resist, so he lets the game slip away from his mind.

~

He’s doing his not-so-complicated math homework, which kind of reminds him of his new friend, so he’s having trouble concentrating on figuring out what to do. He’s just about to give up on his homework when he feels his phone vibrate. Cristiano smiles when he sees whom the message is from.

 **Ricky:** hellloo.. did you see the man u/man c game?

 **Cristiano:** no :( ive been doing hw

 **Ricky:** aw don’t worry i didn’t see it either. was gonna ask you the score.

 **Cristiano:** and why couldn’t you watch?

 **Ricky:** was at church..

 **Cristiano:** oh. fun?

 **Ricky:** it was a nice mass :)

 **Cristiano:** i wouldn’t know.. don’t really go to church.. ever

 **Ricky:** not the religious type?

 **Cristiano:** i used to be

 **Ricky:** what changed?

 **Cristiano:** i stopped going after my dad died

He can’t believe he’s opening up to Ricky, someone he barely knows, but for some reason it doesn’t necessarily feel weird. Just surprising. But it isn’t hard telling Ricky about himself. Sometimes with his friends they’ll have to pry the truth out of him, but when Cristiano explains to Ricky the circumstances of his father’s death, it doesn’t bother him.

His phone beeps again, but it’s not from Ricky like he expected (hoped?).

 **Sergio:** heyy

 **Cristiano:** hi

 **Sergio:** what’s up?

 **Cristiano:** doing math homework

 **Cristiano:** do you know who won the city/united match?

 **Sergio:** city did.. 3-2. why? you didn’t watch?

 **Cristiano:** no  & ricky wanted to know too

 **Sergio:** oh

 **Sergio:** how did you guys even meet?

 **Cristiano:** he sat next to me in my math class  & i was a dick to him, but then i apologized & then we started talking

 **Sergio:** oh cool..

 **Cristiano:** what’s up with you?

 **Sergio:** nothing.. just chilling.

Not sure about what to respond with, Cristiano sets his phone aside and continues to work on his math homework. He’s forced to stop again once he gets another text. It’s Sergio again.

 **Sergio:** I miss you

 **Cristiano:** I just saw you today haha

 **Sergio:** I know.. I mean, I miss how we used to be

 **Cristiano:** you mean before I told you I was in love with you.

 **Sergio:** no

 **Sergio:** i mean

 **Sergio:** never mind

 **Sergio:** sorry

 **Cristiano:** ?

But Sergio never replies. Cristiano falls against his bed and sighs. He forgets about his math homework and falls asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy cow its been a while.. oops. i'm really really sorry about that actually.. i love how i promised a new chapter each week and then i didn't update for three months. my bad. i want to say that i've been busy with college, but like... three months? anyway, i'm gonna stop rambling now. 
> 
> let me know what you thought.. and if you guys have tumblrs you should follow me: http://jamesrodrguez.tumblr.com :)
> 
> until next time... (i swear it won't be another three months until the next update) <3


	8. Starry Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> drama llamas and sexy times...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this wasn't really proofread tbh

“If we’re being completely honest here,” Xabi says, and Steven looks at him expectantly. “I kind of hate you.”

Steven rolls his eyes. “Do not.”

“Trust me. I do.”

“And why is that?”

“Because,” Xabi says with a dramatic sigh. “You keep doing this thing.”

“What thing?”

“This thing with your face. It’s kind of unnecessary.”

Steven raises his eyebrows. “What are you going on about?”

“Your face, Stevie,” Xabi says slower.

“What about it?”

“You need to stop.”

“Stop what? I don’t understand…” Steven sinks down on the couch, looking like a lost puppy because Xabi is being completely serious and he just doesn’t get it.

“You need to stop with your face.”

“What is that supposed to mean?!” Steven asks frustrated.

Xabi laughs and snuggles closer to Steven in the couch corner. “Stevie, I’m complimenting you.”

Still frowning, Steven peers up at him. “I don’t see how that was a compliment…”

“Just trust me, love, it was.”

Steven smiles, sitting up in the couch again, and kisses Xabi once. “Love?”

“Yeah,” Xabi shrugs. “That’s the British thing to say isn’t?”

Rolling his eyes, Steven kisses Xabi again. “You’re too cute.”

“That’s what I was saying before about you…” Xabi says with a smirk.

It was the morning after. But not like… _the morning after_. More like, the next morning after a steamy make-out session that led to nowhere other than making out and hand jobs. Steven’s parents still weren’t home, apparently they’d gone to Paris for the week as part of their anniversary, and Steven and Xabi were still lying on the same couch from the previous night. Steven had let Xabi borrow a pair of pajamas bottoms and a plain black t-shirt.

“You know you’re never getting these back,” Xabi says, referring to the Liverpool pajama bottoms that Steven had let him borrow.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah,” Xabi replies. “They’re fuzzy, and they smell good.”

Steven smiles, knowing Xabi is implying that _he_ smells good. He untangles himself from Xabi’s arms and stands up. “Do you want breakfast?”

Xabi follows him into the kitchen with a smile.

“What would you like?” Steven asks.

“What can you make?” Xabi counters.

Steven considers for a moment. “A lot of things. I could do a traditional English breakfast…”

Xabi frowns. “No, that’s okay.” He laughs. “Sorry, I’m not a fan. How about pancakes?”

Not offended, Steven smiles. “I can do pancakes. You want any fruits? Chocolate chips?”

“Surprise me,” Xabi says, leaning back against the kitchen counter.

They end up eating chocolate chip, blueberry, and banana pancakes. Xabi was half expecting Steven to screw them up, but he’s a surprisingly good cook.

“These are really good,” Xabi says, forgetting for a moment to compose himself, as he stuffs a forkful of chocolate chip pancake in his mouth.

“You sound surprised.”

“Didn’t know you could cook,” Xabi says with a full mouth. He swallows the hunk of pancake self-consciously. Steven raises an eyebrow, but smiles.

Steven’s eyes flick to Xabi’s lips and then back up to his eyes. “You’ve got something…” he starts. He brushes a bit of pancake off the corner of Xabi’s lips with his thumb.

Xabi feels something flutter in his stomach. He smiles at Steven’s touch and leans into it. “You’ve got something here,” he says, slowly leaning in and kissing Steven.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Steven says with a smirk. “I didn’t have any pancakes on my face. I’m not a slob like you.”

“Wow, ouch.” Xabi pulls away, but Steven presses forward.

“Only joking, _love_ ,” Steven says before returning Xabi’s kiss.

Xabi pulls away and smirks. “Love?”

Steven shrugs. “You’re right. It’s a British thing. Can’t help me self.” He leans in to kiss Xabi again, stopping just before their lips touch.

Xabi closes his eyes, and just as Steven is about to close the final distance, Xabi sighs. “You know we have school in twenty minutes, yeah?”

“Mood killer,” Steven mumbles bitterly.

“Sorry,” Xabi whispers, leaning in silently and kissing Steven once more. “Can I borrow some clothes?”

Steven gets up from the kitchen table. “Jeez, you’re just taking all my stuff,” he jokes.

“It’s not my fault you wouldn’t let me leave last night.”

Steven scoffs. “If I remember correctly it was you who didn’t want to go home last night.”

Xabi tries to fight back a smile. “Don’t know what you mean.”

“Sure you don’t,” Steven replies. He leads Xabi upstairs to his bedroom. “Any particular clothes you want?”

Xabi picks out one of Steven’s Liverpool jerseys and a pair of blue jeans that hugs his butt in ways that Steven really appreciates.

Steven wraps his arm around Xabi’s waist for a moment and kisses his temple. “I’ll grab our stuff,” he says. Steven helps Xabi hobble down the stairs and get into the car.

“Don’t be surprised if we get shit for spending the night together,” Xabi says after a moment of silence.

Steven gives him a look. “What do you mean?”

Laughing as they pulls into a parking spot. “Just expect Sergio to be himself.”

~

“So you guys had sex?”

Xabi rolls his eyes. “No.”

“Why not?” Sergio says looking taken aback.

“Because!” Xabi says frustrated.

Shrugging, Sergio returns his attention to his turkey and cheese sandwich.

Xabi looks around the lunch table. Cristiano and David are in a conversation about the upcoming game, Iker and Cesc aren’t being discreet about their eye-sex, and Gerard is nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Geri?” Xabi asks.

Sergio not-so subtlety kicks him from under the table.

Cesc looks up, his smile turning into a frown. “He said he was sick, but I think he’s just still upset.”

Xabi decides not to ask what’s upsetting Gerard. He’ll text everyone else about it later.

“So anyway--” David tries to say. But he stops when Ricky sits down next to him and Cristiano, holding a tray of what is supposed to be macaroni and cheese.

“Hey, Ricky,” Cristiano says cheerfully.

Ricky smiles back at him.

Xabi glances over at Sergio who looks like he’s trying to hide his annoyance. It’s not working. Suddenly he stands up and grabs his book bag. “I’m going to go sit with _Fernando_ ,” he says to the entire table, but he’s looking at Cristiano, who just looks confused.

~

Without warning, Sergio plops down in the seat next to Fernando. He kisses his cheek and says, “Hey, you.”

Fernando looks startled. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

Sergio shrugs. “Can’t I say hi at lunch time?”

“Yeah, of course, but--” Fernando yelps when Pepe kicks him from under the table.

“You okay?” Sergio asks.

“Yeah. Uh, never mind.”

~

“What was that about?” Cristiano asks.

Everyone shrugs.

“Was it because of me?” Ricky asks.

Cristiano looks to Xabi who merely shrugs. “He probably didn’t mean for it to seem like that.”

~

Sergio lets Fernando talk about whatever it is he’s talking about, but he can’t help but glance over at the other table every few seconds. He thought that Ricky was going to be a one-time-thing, but suddenly he’s back. Was something going on between him and Cristiano? And what right did Sergio have to care about if the new religious kid and Cristiano were together?

He had a big date with Fernando planned for that night. It was a Friday so they could stay out as late as they wanted. He has a game the next day, but he isn't worried about it.

“You excited for tonight?” Sergio whispers once Fernando stops talking.

Fernando blushes. “Yeah. You still haven’t told me what we’re going to be doing…”

“It’s a surprise,” Sergio replies, winking.

“You guys are gross,” Steven says, purposely ruining the mood. Pepe nods in agreement, and maybe Frank and John would have too if they weren’t too preoccupied being the most disgusting couple in the world as per usual.

“We could be worse,” Fernando says, nodding to Frank and John, who still hadn’t noticed that Sergio had joined their table.

“Alright,” Steven admits. “You aren’t as bad as some.”

~

Ricky gets up to grab another bowl of macaroni and cheese so Cristiano immediately leans forward and stares at Xabi. “So what’s up with Sergio?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“I don’t know! Just tell me what you think is up…”

Xabi glances over at where Ricky is standing on line. “Okay fine. I think he left because of Ricky.”

“That’s what I thought too,” David cuts in.

Iker nods, and Cesc chews his burger.

“Why would he leave because of Ricky?” Cristiano asks.

“He probably still likes you,” Cesc says after swallowing.

“But…” Cristiano is speechless. “But Ricky and I aren’t even together.”

Xabi gives him a look. “But don’t you want to be?”

Cristiano shrugs. “I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it...”

Everyone at the table collectively gives him the same knowing look. “Bullshit,” Cesc says.

“Excuse me?”

Cesc rolls his eyes. “You like him and we all know it. And Sergio knows it. That’s why he left..”

“But Sergio has no reason to be jealous! He’s with Fernando. He’s really happy with Fernando too.”

Iker sighs. “That may be, but he still likes _you_.”

“This is ridiculous!” Cristiano says angrily just as Ricky sits back down at the table.

“What’s ridiculous?” he asks innocently.

“Nothing,” Cristiano sighs.

Ricky looks around the table, hoping someone will clue him in, but everyone looks away. “Uh… Cris?” He says. “You sure it’s nothing?” And he looks just so damn concerned and honest that Cristiano just wants to hug him because he’s never met someone like him. Someone so open and honest and kind and genuine.

~

Sergio isn’t usually the romantic type. But he planned probably the most romantic date he could think of. It has clichés, but he knows that Fernando is going to love it. And he knows that he’s being dumb about the whole Cristiano and Ricky thing because he doesn’t really have the right to be jealous, especially not when he has a boyfriend, but there’s still that part of him that loves Cristiano, and he can’t help but feel betrayed.

After the incident at lunch, Sergio doesn’t think about Cristiano or Ricky at all. Not once. Sorta.

At around seven he picks Fernando up from his house. They go to a restaurant for dinner, an ice cream shop for desert, and finally, they take a drive, finally stopping at a soccer field in the next town over. The soccer team is supposed to play the next day, and Fernando wanted to see where it was so he wouldn’t get lost when he drove over to watch it.

The sky is clear that night, and the stars are out and bright. When they pull up to the field, Sergio has an idea.

“Do you want to get out and watch the stars?”

Fernando smiles at him from the passenger seat, and they both get out of the car. Sergio grabs a blanket from the trunk and follows Fernando out onto the field. He spreads the blanket out in the middle of the field and they lie down, gazing at the stars up above them.

Sergio tries to be cute and point out what constellations he sees, but he doesn’t know that many so it ends up being him saying, “Oh look, that one could be the little dipper… or maybe it’s the big dipper. I’m not quite sure.”

There’s a few beats of silence. Sergio listens carefully to Fernando’s quiet breathing. He smiles to himself. He hasn’t felt this comfortable with someone in a while.

“Hey, Sergio?” Fernando asks.

Sergio rolls over onto his side so he can look at Fernando, and Fernando does the same. “Yes?”

Fernando doesn’t say anything though. Instead, he leans forward and kisses Sergio. Sergio returns the kiss immediately, resting his hand on Fernando’s waist and pulling him closer. Fernando bites and sucks on Sergio’s lower lip and he runs his hand across Sergio’s chest.

“Fer…” Sergio whispers.

Suddenly Fernando pushes Sergio onto his back.

“Oof!”

Fernando sits up and straddles Sergio’s stomach. Out of habit, Sergio rests his palms on Fernando’s thighs. “Do you think people can see us?” Sergio asks.

“I don’t care,” Fernando says. He runs his hands down Sergio’s chest until he reaches the hem of Sergio’s shirt, which is already riding up to his belly button. He slowly pushes it up, pressing his hands into Sergio’s hard abdominal muscles. Sergio pushes Fernando back and sits up so he can pull the shirt over his head. His eyes are even with Fernando’s shoulders so he presses small kisses to Fernando’s exposed collarbone.

“Then I don’t care either,” he mummers.

They roll around on the ground for a while, pulling off clothes and biting marks into each other’s skin. Fernando reaches for Sergio’s boxers and starts to slide them off. And Sergio is more than happy to let him, but then he has a thought.

“Um…” he starts. He feels weird asking about it, but he needs to. “Are we… Do you... Is this leading somewhere?”

Fernando looks up at him through his long eyelashes. “Only if you want it to.”

“Well, it’s really more of your decision. Like I’m ready, but I don’t want to pressure you or anything if you’re not.”

Fernando lips quirk and he goes back to pulling off Sergio’s boxers.

“What I mean is,” Sergio says quickly. “If this is going somewhere, before we get naked and we should probably get some stuff…”

“Okay,” Fernando says. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“I’ll be right back,” Sergio says, standing up and fixing his underwear.

Fernando looks taken aback. “Wait, you have stuff in your car?”

“’Course,” Sergio says like it should be obvious. “Always got to be prepared.” With that, he runs back to the car, thankful that there are no cars on the road so no one can see him in his boxer shorts and nothing else. He rummages through his glove compartment until he finds what he’s looking for, but just before he runs back to Fernando, he grabs his phone and types out a quick text, smirking as he does so.

When he returns, Fernando is lying with his back against the ground and his eyes closed. Sergio sits down next to him and he’s just about if Fernando is tired or if he would rather just go home, but then Fernando’s eye pop open and he reaches wildly for Sergio.

“You took forever,” Fernando complains.

Sergio rolls his eyes. “I’ve been gone for like thirty seconds.”

“Foreverrr,” Fernando says again. He leans closer and grabs Sergio’s face, bringing him in for a long, slow kiss. Things remain slow for the rest of the night, the urgency they had before is gone, and is replaced with lingering touches and gentle strokes. Eventually they get back to the point where Fernando tries to pull off Sergio’s boxers. “Not gonna stop me this time are you?”

“Fuck off,” Sergio replies looking impatient. Usually when he has sex it’s hot, dirty, and fast. People don’t like wasting time when they’re having sex in the janitors closet or the school bathroom, but Fernando’s different. He actually takes things slow, makes sure Sergio’s happy, and for the rest of the entire night Sergio completely forgets about the drama with Cristiano.

Sergio returns the favor, being careful and caring. He doesn’t want Fernando to have a bad… first experience? Suddenly something occurs to him.

“Wait,” he says. Fernando is in the process of kissing his thighs so he looks up at him with an exasperated expression. “Have you ever done this before?”

Fernando shakes his head.

“Are you sure you want to do it here then? I mean, shouldn’t your first time be somewhere special?”

Fernando rolls his eyes and moves so he can kiss Sergio’s lips. “It’s special because it’s with you. I want to do this, okay?”

There are no more questions after that and no more interruptions. Fernando and Sergio arranges themselves in the most comfortable position as they can, which is kind of difficult since they’re just in the middle of a soccer field and there isn’t anything to hold on to.

At first it’s uncomfortable, and very foreign, but after a few moments Fernando starts to feel a pleasure in his belly. It’s not long before they’re lying back down, breathing heavily, and smiling at each other. Fernando kisses Sergio softy and closes his eyes. They lie peacefully for a little while, but then Sergio suggests they leave before they get caught. It’s nearly one in the morning, but he worries someone will walk by and report them.

So they climb back into Sergio’s car and drive off. It’s a while before they get back to their town, but eventually they’re parked outside Fernando’s house, neither wanting to say goodnight.

“Thanks for a great night,” Fernando says, leaning in to kiss Sergio.

“You too,” Sergio replies with a smirk. He let’s his hands grab the sides of Fernando’s face and he pulls him in for what was supposed to be a goodbye kiss. Instead, it leads to Fernando straddling him in the driver seat and Sergio has to move the seat backwards so Fernando doesn’t hit the car horn by accident. He pulls a level to recline the seat as Fernando sucks at his neck. He would have made some pithy comment about Fernando being too horny for his own good, but the words get stuck in his mouth with every kiss and touch from Fernando.

“Let’s go in the back seat,” Fernando breathes against his skin suddenly.

Sergio is surprised. “We’re right outside your house. What if your parents looked outside?”

Fernando smirks. “They won’t. But doesn’t the danger make it more exciting?”

So that’s how they end up having sex for the second time that night, this time in the back of Sergio’s car. _I’m so lucky I just bought more lube_ , Sergio thinks as Fernando once again pulls off his boxers.

~

Iker and Cristiano are hanging out that Friday night. Apparently everyone else was busy so they end up just hanging out in Cristiano’s living room watching whatever game is on and then some special on Real Madrid that’s on the telly.

Halfway through the night, Iker’s phone beeps. It’s a text from Sergio.

 **Sergio:** Yo I’m about to have sex on the field that we’re playing on tomorrow haha

Iker laughs at first, but then he rolls his eyes. This was information he didn’t need in his life.

            **Iker:** Wtf hahah

“What’s so funny?” Cristiano asks.

Iker is hesitant to show him the text, but Cristiano rips the phone from his hands. He frowns when he reads it, but quickly covers it with an amused smirk.

“He’s so weird,” he says plainly.

Iker tries to get him to talk about it, but Cristiano refuses to acknowledge any questions about his still present feelings for Sergio. Instead he flips through the channels until he finds that BBC3 is broadcasting their special “World Cups Most Shocking Moments”. Iker frowns and leans back against the couch. He figures it’ll be impossible to get Cristiano to open up, at least at that moment, so he tries to enjoy the hilarious special.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is shorter than usual... i've had most of this chapter written for two months, but i got stuck at the sernando sex scene and ignored this because i didn't want to write it. oops
> 
> hope your holidays (if you celebrated any) were fabulous!
> 
> see you in 2015 :O
> 
> (cait don't kill me for not letting you read first... pretty sure you're sleeping rn)
> 
> EDIT (4/21/17): I just want to apologize for these god awful sex/make out scenes. Also that text Sergio sends Iker before he and Fernando have sex is a real text that a boy at my school sent his friend.


	9. A Clichéd Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise bitch

After two days of ignoring everyone, Gerard finally comes back to school. His first class of the day is with Cesc, and his best friend seems absolutely ecstatic to see him. Ouch. Its hard to spend time with Cesc, knowing that Cesc knows how he felt, and knowing that he’ll never feel the same way.

Truthfully though, he is happy that Cesc was happy with Iker. It doesn’t hurt that Iker is a good person. If Cesc had decided to date that Suarez guy, then Gerard would have had issues with that.

“You’re back!” Cesc whispers to him as he sits down in his seat.

“Yeah. I’m sorry for going MIA—“

“You don’t need to apologize,” Cesc insists.

They both smile, and Gerard can feel the tension between them easing. Okay, so things aren’t going to work out with Cesc. It sucks, but it’s not the end of the world.

~

That day during lunch Sergio arrives to see Cristiano and Ricky are the only ones at the table.

“Where is everyone?” he asks.

“On line,” Cristiano replies.

He glances at Ricky, who smiles at him kindly, and he returns the look, though he doesn’t really mean it.

Now Cristiano and Ricky are looking at him expectantly so Sergio figures he should at least be polite and start a conversation.

“Sooo… Why’d you move here?” he asks Ricky awkwardly. 

“My parents like to travel.”

“Yeah, but moving your senior year? That’s got to be hard.”

Ricky nods. “It’s not so bad…” And then he gives Cristiano a look that Sergio swears he used to give Cristiano last year when he wasn’t looking. And for a hot minute he’s pissed. He wants to grab Cristiano’s arm and drag him away, but he stops himself.

A moment later, Cesc, Gerard, and Iker join the table. They’re all laughing about the drama they witnessed in the freshmen wing.

“And then Isco told Morata in front of the whole hall that he liked him. Like holy shit?” Cesc recants.

“Sounds like someone we know,” Gerard jokes, but freezes when he sees Cristiano staring at him.

His face turns red. “Ah shit. Sorry. That wasn’t—“

Cristiano waves it off. “It’s whatever. Doesn’t matter anymore.”

Ricky’s brows furrow. “Huh?”

“Nothing,” everyone says at once.

“It’s pretty complicated. I’ll tell you another day,” Cristiano promises.

~

Xabi’s sitting over at Steven’s table that day, and he can’t keep his hands off him. Luckily John and Frank are in their own little world so they either don’t notice or just don’t seem to care. Fernando and Pepe, on the other hand, are starting to get annoyed.

“You guys are the worst,” Pepe mumbles.

Steven takes a break from staring into Xabi’s eyes to stick his tongue out at Pepe. “You’re just jealous.”

Pepe rolls his eyes. “No, I’m just sick of everyone at this god damn table being so love struck.”

“Don’t worry, Pepe. Some day you’ll find love.”

“Fuck off.”

~

After school Sergio and Fernando drive to Sergio’s house so they can hang out. As they’re sitting on the couch, Sergio recalls how jealous he was feeling at lunch any time Cristiano and Ricky looked at each other, but then when he looks at Fernando, all his jealousy melts away.

He loves Fernando so much that nothing else matters. He— _Wait._ He loves Fernando?

“Oh my god,” Sergio accidentally mumbles allowed.

Fernando glances over at him. “What?”

Sergio smiles and traces some of Fernando’s freckles with his thumb. “I love you.”

For a moment, Fernando is shocked and doesn’t know what to say. But Sergio is looking at him, expectantly, and with so much light in his eyes that Fernando is snapped back to reality.

He thinks about the day they first started talking to each other, and when he first told the guys that he and Sergio were texting, and then when they went on their first date to the diner, and when all the drama started with Cristiano. Then he thinks about the night on the football pitch and how they watched the stars and had sex in the back of Sergio’s car.

“I love you too,” Fernando admits.

They both stare at each other, smiling, before leaning in for a kiss.

Yes, there’d been some bumps, but Fernando and Sergio were happy.

~

“Your friends are very interesting.”

“You think so?” Cristiano asks.

Ricky nods. “Yeah they seem… odd. But it’s a good odd.”

Laughing, Cristiano lets his head fall back against the couch. They’re in Ricky’s basement, and he had been teaching Ricky how to play FIFA, but after Ricky beat him four times in a row, Cristiano suggested they take a break.

“Yeah, they’re odd alright. Sometimes they’re _too_ odd.”

Ricky frowns. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just that sometimes there’s a lot of drama. I mean—usually there’s at least _something_ going on. It’s just a lot to keep up with.”

“Yeah?”

Cristiano nods. “Yeah, I mean… There was this fight between me and Sergio... and Fernando too I guess? And then Iker and Cesc and Geri were fighting. I think? I don’t really know what’s going on with them. And Xabi’s got his thing with Steven, but I think they’re good now? I don’t know.”

Ricky smiles. “All friend groups have drama.”

“Yeah, but not all of them are so incestuous.”

Ricky’s laugh is light, and Cristiano loves it. “That is true.”

There’s something about Ricky that Cristiano feels connected to. He barely knows him, but there’s something there. Like magnets, he feels a pull to him.

For the first time in a long time, there’s someone besides Sergio filling up his thoughts.

~

The air in Steven's room is cool, and there's a soft breeze coming from his open window. Outside birds are flying around and there's a faint light sound of police sirens in the distance. 

“You know… You never taught me to play the clarinet,” Xabi says.

Steven pulls away for a second to stare at his boyfriend. “Is that really what you’re thinking about now?”

They’re lying in Steven’s bed, and they had been making out, but apparently Xabi has other things on his mind.

“Yeah, I don’t know. I just remembered.”

“Okay…” Steven isn’t sure if he’s allowed to go back to kissing him or not. He waits for Xabi to give him a clue.

“Sorry,” Xabi says with a laugh. “I was just thinking about when you first asked me to the movies, and then I realized that you’re actually a really bad teacher.

Steven scoffs. “How dare you? I am a great teacher. You’re just an impossible student.”

“Mhm, sure.” Xabi smirks.

Steven’s about to make another sarcastic comment when Xabi presses his lips back against his for a moment.

“You know," he says, breaking away again. Steven sighs dramatically. "I only chose the clarinet as my instrument because I saw you were playing it.” There's a moment of silence, and then he laughs at Steven’s shocked face.

"Really?" Steven's smile is unbelievably wide.

"Yeah," Xabi blushes, then he kisses his boyfriend once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii.. So it's been a while. Like two and a half years?? Anyway, I've decided to give this story an ending, albeit a very short and cliché ending, but an ending nonetheless. 
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed Maelstrom. Thank you very much for reading. xx
> 
> If you've got tumblr, please hit me up. https://jamesrodrguez.tumblr.com


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